Pain Management
Conditions
Keywords
virtual reality, trigger point injections
Brief summary
This study aims to evaluate the effect of Virtual Reality (VR) as a distraction method to help those patients undergoing trigger points therapy to reduce anxiety and increase patient satisfaction. Half of the participants will wear VR gear, meanwhile the other half will be in control group, which will not wear VR headset, only the normal care.
Detailed description
trigger points can cause a wide range of pain symptoms; pain in the anterior shoulder and down the arm, headache pain, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, frozen shoulder pain, and other symptoms. Local anesthetic injections and lidocaine injections are common wet needling treatments for trigger points injections. The proposed mechanism by which trigger points injections alleviate pain is based on mechanical disruption of the taut bands of muscle with palpation based needling. During injections, patients may feel an intensified pain and a twitch response. Distraction has been proved to be an effective tool in pain management, and it can also be used for a variety of medical procedures. By engaging in assigned tasks, pain and anxiety are assumed to be lessened throughout the procedure, while leaving patients less occupied by pain stimuli. . An immersive virtual environment may be preferable to medications such as sedatives, due to side effects and prolonged discharge from procedure suite. Occasionally, medications may not even be available in a busy interventional pain suite. At the UCD pain clinic, we do not offer sedating medications for bedside procedures like trigger point injections. By wearing VR headset, patients may feel less tense, anxious, and painful during trigger point injections.
Interventions
DEVICEVirtual Reality headset
The participants in this group would wear Virtual Reality headset called Oculus Gear VR during their trigger point injections.
Sponsors
University of California, Davis
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Caregiver)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Patients aged over 18 years old, who are referred to UC Davis Pain Medicine Clinic and are candidates for trigger point injections, are English speaking and can understand oral and written instructions
Exclusion criteria
* Patients who have high risk of motion sickness, seizure disorder, visual/hearing impairment, prisoners or are pregnant are not eligible for this study.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in anxiety level | Immediately pre- and post-procedure | Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory items measuring state anxiety. All items are rated on a 4-point scale, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in pain score | Immediately pre- and post-procedure | Participants will be asked to indicate pain score in a scale of 0-10, with higher scores indicating greater pain. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed