NCT06154850

Effects of Virtual Reality on Brain Hemodynamic Activity in Chronic Pain

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 15 (actual)
• Sponsor: Acibadem University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Virtual reality systems have been applied in recent years to reduce pain intensity and fear of movement in individuals with acute and chronic pain. The main mechanism of virtual reality methods in pain control is to provide the effect of distraction from pain. Virtual reality systems allow the individuals to feel themselves in a different environment and shift their attention to the game they are playing or the virtual world created rather than the pain they feel. This is thought to be the main mechanism of pain control. However, the cortical mechanism of the reduction in pain caused by virtual reality methods, especially in individuals with chronic pain, has not been fully elucidated. It is predicted that the integration of virtual reality methods into treatment protocols will gradually increase by time, especially as a result of the reflection of technological developments in clinical practice. At this point, fNIRS, which enables the assessment of the functionality of brain areas during movement, has the potential to reveal the response of the effect provided by virtual reality technology in the prefrontal cortex. The aims of our study were to examine brain hemodynamic activity during the experience of non-immersive and immersive virtual reality environments and the change in pain intensity after virtual reality applications in individuals with rheumatic diseases with chronic pain.

Conditions

• Chronic Pain
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Virtual Reality

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Immersive virtual reality	Oculus Quest 2 will be used with NatureTrek application for 10 minutes.
OTHER	Non-immersive virtual reality	Patients will watch a video including scenes from NatureTrek application on a screen.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-11-07
• Primary completion: 2024-03-10
• Completion: 2024-03-19
• First posted: 2023-12-04
• Last updated: 2024-03-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)