Virtual Reality as an Adjunctive Non-pharmacologic Analgesic for Acute Burn Pain During Medical Procedures

Excessive pain during medical procedures is a widespread problem but is especially problematic during daily wound care of patients with severe burn injuries.

Burn patients report 35-50% reductions in procedural pain while in a distracting immersive virtual reality, and fMRI brain scans show associated reductions in pain-related brain activity during VR. VR distraction appears to be most effective for patients with the highest pain intensity levels. VR is thought to reduce pain by directing patients' attention into the virtual world, leaving less attention available to process incoming neural signals from pain receptors.