Angling in Virtual Reality for Pain Relief

Abstract

A significant proportion of population suffers from chronic pain, requiring constant medication with unwanted side-effects. One drawback in the use of opioid pain relievers is risk of addiction combined with the relative ease of obtaining a prescription from doctors. This circumstance caused many deaths or drug resistance followed by the need of a higher dosage. Another problem with the consumption of this type of pharmacological agents is that they are not fit for the use on young patients. One possible solution for pain management is discovering different treatments and solutions to provide an improved experience when dealing with pain. One alternative to medication is using Virtual Reality applications, where the studies indicate good results for pain management and stress relief. They provide a multisensory experience that engages a person’s attention on a deeper level and eases the pain. In this paper, we present our initial concept and prototype that has the objective of lessening the pain felt by patients and consequently reducing the amounts of prescribed opioids.