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Thursday, March 28, 2024

VR game lets patients 'shoot' away their pain

Duration: 01:26s 0 shares 8 views

VR game lets patients 'shoot' away their pain
VR game lets patients 'shoot' away their pain

When the pain gets too much, this virtual-reality headset will allow you to jump into a digital world where you can blast away at little red monsters representing your ailment.

Lauren Anthony reports.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) VIRTUAL REALITY ANIMATION OF NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH VOICEOVER SAYING: "You're at the place of your pain.

Take a look around." Pain relief, but not as you know it.

The designers of this virtual reality computer game hope it will help alleviate your symptoms by addressing its psychological effects.

The gear, made by Dutch medical company Reducept, has the user see themselves traveling through their own nervous system, where they can use laser guns to hit back at their pain.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) VIRTUAL REALITY ANIMATION OF NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH VOICEOVER SAYING: "Well done.

With this exercise you trained your brain to become less sensitive to warning stimuli." It's supposed to distract the patient and let them cope better mentally.

Brian Thompson has chronic pain in his left hand.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRONIC PAIN PATIENT, BRIAN THOMPSON, SAYING: "I have never ever seen a VR mask before and it's stepping into another reality.

They call it 'virtual reality' for a reason.

You step into another world and you forget that you're sitting on the chair with a mask on your face.

It's very, very strange, and then you become aware that you're fighting your own nervous system, stopping pain, and you get so involved that you are really in your own nervous system fighting pain.

It's just incredible.

It really is, and it's so real, which is why you have to do it sitting down because you are just totally in another world." Reducept says it has sold the game to 50 Dutch health centers, and is doing more research to test its medical use.

Some pain specialists are already seeing improvement in chronic cases.

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