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James Francis's avatar

This is interesting. But how does it work? Is the effect purely to distract from pain?

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InGameScientist's avatar

I think the effect is mostly distraction for the VR game, considering that the passive and active VR games had similar effects.

A better controlled study is needed to see if VR and exercise combine for an even greater effect, but a 10% increase in pain thresholds for strapping on a VR headset, even if it sounds small, might be enough of an increase for minor procedures (like vaccinations) to be covered.

Or maybe VR can be used with medicines for bigger procedures but at a lower dose of the pain killer?

Depending on the findings, I think there are multiple ways to apply a finding like this!

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James Francis's avatar

It also depends on what type of pain we're talking about. A needle poking you is not the same as, say tendonitis or a migraine. Hence why I wondered if this was mainly a distraction method or if there was something more to it.

But certainly, I can see VR's reality-grabbing escapism being useful for distracting from some types of pain.

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