The drug-free pain therapy of the future is here

“Just try not to think about it.”

“Distract yourself with something else.”

Have you ever heard these words from a well-intentioned person as you suffered through pain?

Many of us have heard this advice from a friend or family member who just wishes they could help us get through the pain and doesn’t know what else to say or do.

For you, though, the person in pain, distracting yourself isn’t always that easy.

If only we had a better understanding of how our brain works when we feel pain. If only we could trick it into not feeling the pain.

Well, a new “brain hack” holds bright promise for being able to distract our brains so completely that pain isn’t even an issue.

Virtual Reality instead of opioids?

If you’ve been around teenagers who play video games, you know how engrossed they can become in the virtual world of the game. It’s as if nothing else exists.

This is the premise behind using Virtual Reality (VR) as an antidote to both chronic and acute pain.

“It’s not just a distraction — it’s like an endogenous narcotic providing a physiological and chemical burst that causes you to feel good,” said Jeffrey I. Gold, director of the pediatric pain management clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

In other words, being immersed in a virtual world acts like a self-administered narcotic. Not only that, but processing this world occupies so much of your brain that, when pain signals try to get in, there’s no room for them.

VR for different types of pain

VR has been shown to work well in distracting people from an acute pain situation, such as during treatment of a burn wound, which can be excruciatingly painful and can feel like being burned all over again.

But chronic pain is another story. Since a person is already anticipating this pain, as it is ongoing, different psychological and central nervous system processes are involved than in acute pain.

Studies are starting to look at how effective VR can be in helping to relieve chronic pain.

Psychologists at the University of Tennessee recruited thirty patients at a local pain clinic to experience a VR application called COOL! Patients rated their pain before and after the VR session, on a scale from 0-10.

The average pain rating before the session was 5.7, and the average post-session rating was 4.1.

The average pain rating during the VR session was 2.6!

What was unclear was how long the pain relief can last after a VR session, although some participants in this study said it lasted for hours or even days.

While the researchers clearly state that more work needs to be done to determine the true effectiveness of VR on chronic pain, other professionals see promise in this new technology for helping patients learn to manage their pain.

VR plus hypnosis brings mindfulness

The practice of mindfulness meditation has been proven to reduce pain by activating brain regions associated with the self-control of pain.

Another brain center, the thalamus, is deactivated during mindfulness meditation, where breathing is slowed. The thalamus is the “gateway” that determines if pain signals are allowed to reach deeper into the brain and get processed as actual pain sensations.

Hypnosis fosters this state of mindfulness, and VR together with hypnosis is an even more powerful tool.

David R. Patterson is a University of Washington researcher who pioneered the combined use of VR and hypnosis.

He says that the state of mindfulness induced by combining VR with hypnosis can train the brain not to react to thoughts or emotions associated with suffering.

“Pain may be inevitable, but suffering isn’t,” he says.

An affordable option

With VR headsets costing as little as $300, the potential exists for patients to use them at home as needed. Various software programs are also being developed that create virtual environments aimed at changing the brain and how it processes pain.

Although no one is recommending the use of VR as a replacement for pain medication at this point, research is ongoing into how this technology can start to make inroads into reducing the use of opioids.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold says that “VR is not a panacea… but… unlike opioids, you don’t become dependent VR. Rather, you learn skills that can generalize into life without VR. It’s a tool for breaking the cycle of pain and stress that drives the nervous system through the roof.”

“You can learn to think yourself well instead of thinking yourself sick.”

Now, if you’re a novice, I’m sure a younger family member who considers themselves a “gamer,” would love to help you get started! You might be surprised to learn that many of the “old-school” video games are available to play on new devices as well. So ramp up your Pac man skills and tamp down your pain, all at the same time.

Sources:

1. The Impact of Virtual Reality on Chronic Pain — PLOS One
2. Virtual Reality as a Clinical Tool for Pain Management — Current Pain and Headache Reports
3. Virtual Reality as Therapy for Pain — The New York Times