Virtual Reality for Persistent Low Back Pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Do embodiment-based and distraction-based immersive virtual reality approaches alter pain processing mechanisms and patient-reported outcome measures differently in people with persistent low back pain?
IRAS ID
320435
Contact name
Valerie Sparkes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NA, NA
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 28 days
Research summary
Immersive virtual reality is the presentation of an artificial environment delivered using a head-mounted headset Two approaches to immersive virtual reality have shown promising results in people with chronic pain: One is distraction where the artificial environment is used to distract the user’s attention away from their pain. This approach is where the person sits and watches a scene that appears in the headset. The other approach is embodiment approach, where the user sees a virtual body in the artificial environment through the headset and has the sensation that they themselves are located inside the virtual body and can move with the virtual body. Both approaches appear reduce pain and improve physical activity in people with persistent low back pain. But, how immersive reality works to achieve positive results is not known and we do not know which approach is better than the other. It is important to understand how immersive virtual reality works so that treatment can be more focused for the people with low back pain. This study will see if there are differences between embodiment and distraction immersive virtual reality and if they reduce pain and improve activity in people with persistent low back pain. We will gather participants' opinions about using Immersive virtual reality during the study once people have completed the study. Forty people with persistent Low back pain will receive an introductory session followed by eight sessions of immersive virtual reality over two weeks, followed by follow-up questionnaires and pain testing after four weeks and will gather opinions on using immersive virtual reality from some people. Twenty people will receive embodiment immersive Virtual reality and 20 people will receive distraction immersive virtual reality. We will measure function using questionnaires and pain using a questionnaire and special equipment to test how much pain people feel.
Lay summary of study results: Persistent low back pain is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and virtual reality has emerged as a promising treatment tool for pain management however, most research have utilised virtual reality as a generic tool and not understanding how it actually works., This research utilised a novel approach to compare the differences between embodiment-based and distraction-based virtual reality approaches on how patients felt about their back pain and some special tests to see how the virtual reality affected the pain system in the body.
We recruited 36 people who were divided into 2 groups receiving ten treatment visits of virtual reality of either embodiment- or distraction IVR. We did assessments at intervals of how they felt with respect to their back pain and special test for pain. We also interviewed 5 people about how they felt about the virtual reality treatments.
The results showed that both virtual reality approaches reduced pain, and disability levels at the end of treatment, with the embodiment group showing improvement in the special tests for pain and fearfulness about work. Different person characteristics such as depression and fearfulness appeared to predict who had most improvement in the different groups.
The interviews showed that the treatment was acceptability and was seen as novel and gave temporary relief. These findings advance the understanding of how virtual reality works and may inform the design of more targeted and mechanism-driven treatmentREC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EE/0083
Date of REC Opinion
30 May 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion