None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Treatments using virtual reality (VR) technologies have shown early success in a variety of medical, psychiatric and rehabilitation settings. Although it seems likely that VR may be used to facilitate functional rehabilitation for patients with chronic pain, the application of VR to treat chronic pain has not been examined. The present pilot study has been developed to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a VR rehabilitation intervention for patients attending a hospital based pain service. Thirty chronic pain patients that have been assessed by The Auckland Regional Pain Service (TARPS) and waitlisted for physiotherapy treatment will be invited to take part in the study. Those who chose to take part will be randomly assigned to either a 6-week VR intervention prior to receiving standard treatment/treatment as usual. The intervention will consist of twice-weekly, 30-minute VR sessions, across 6-weeks (totalling 12 sessions). Participants will complete physical capacity evaluations (PCE) and questionnaires assessing pain severity, disability, and fear of movement at baseline,and post-intervention. Participants in the control group will complete questionnaires at baseline, after a 6 week waitlist, and after 6weeks of standard physiotherapy treatment. Following the intervention, ten participants will be invited to complete semi-structured interviews. Findings from this pilot study will be used to design a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the utility of a VR intervention for patients with chronic pain compared with standard physiotherapy treatment, and examine the specific mechanisms responsible for benefits.
Interventions
Thirty chronic pain patients that have been assessed by The Auckland Regional Pain Service (TARPS) and waitlisted for physiotherapy treatment will be invited to take part in the study. Those who chose to take part will be randomly assigned to either a 6-week virtual reality (VR) intervention, or to a control group that will receive standard physiotherapy/treatment as usual.
The intervention will consist of twice-weekly, 30-minute VR sessions, across 6-weeks (totalling 12 sessions). Each VR sess
Thirty chronic pain patients that have been assessed by The Auckland Regional Pain Service (TARPS) and waitlisted for physiotherapy treatment will be invited to take part in the study. Those who chose to take part will be randomly assigned to either a 6-week virtual reality (VR) intervention, or to a control group that will receive standard physiotherapy/treatment as usual. The intervention will consist of twice-weekly, 30-minute VR sessions, across 6-weeks (totalling 12 sessions). Each VR session will be a one-on-one, face-to-face treatment delivered by a physiotherapist. Participants will wear a VR head mounted display and hand sensors. Participants will be guided by the treating physiotherapist to play games that require moving in a virtual environment. The gamification software for this study have been graded from ‘0 = minimal difficulty’ to ‘6 = very difficult’ based on required range and speed of motion. All participants will start on grade 1, and will progress through the grades at the discretion of the treating physiotherapist. Following the VR intervention, ten participants will be invited to complete semi-structured interviews. To monitor adherence to the intervention records will be kept regarding the number of VR appointments that each participant completes. Participants in the intervention group will also complete physical capacity evaluations (PCE) and questionnaires assessing pain severity, disability, and fear of movement at baseline, and at the completion of the intervention. Objective measures of physical activity, both during the VR treatment and in daily life, will be collected using activity tracking devices. These will be worn by participants in the VR group for the duration of the first and sixth weeks of the VR trial.
Sponsors
Auckland University of Technology
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
(1) experiencing musculoskeletal pain (2) ability to complete a 6-week active rehabilitation intervention (3) expect to have stable medication for the duration of the trial (4) between the ages of 18 and 70 (5) residing in Auckland (6) ability to communicate in English.
Exclusion criteria
(1) severe medical or psychiatric conditions (2) non-musculoskeletal pain (neural, headache, abdominal pain) (3) they experience motion sickness (4) they are taking part in pain treatment outside of The Auckland Regional Pain Service (TARPS) (5) their treatment at TARPS is being funded by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) (6) if they are unavailable for the duration of the intervention and follow-up period.
Outcome results
None listed