Wouldn’t it be great if you could send your patients away to enjoy themselves while you conduct their painful physiotherapy.
It would be ideal if they could just leave their arm, leg or whatever and come back for it later...after all the painful stuff has been done.
The University of Washigton believe that this may not be so far fetched. They believe they have found a way to make this possible (well... sort of). The patient dons a virtual reality (VR) headset which means he cannot see what is going on around him. The headset sends him into a virtual world of snowball throwing set to music by Paul Simon.
They have been piloting the idea with burns victims. You can see a report from one soldier who was burnt in a Iraq on TLC tv. He reported significant drops in pain. During the removal of dead or damaged tissue, time spent thinking about pain was 100% with no VR, but 0% during VR. Pain unpleasantness ratings dropped from 7/10 to 0/10. Worst pain dropped from 8/10 to just 2/10. However, fun increased from 0/10 with no VR to 10/10 during VR."
The study this extract is taken from is expected to be completed in October 2009, but don’t forget where you first heard about it.
