Abilities Research Center, Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Aug 25;18(17):8923. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18178923.
Emerging literature suggests that virtual reality (VR) may be a viable therapy for neuropathic pain (NP). This pilot study aimed to investigate the immediate effect of VR in reducing NP in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Eight individuals with chronic NP after SCI were recruited and underwent consecutive exposure to scenery and somatic virtual environments (VE). The numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to assess pain before and after exposure to each VE. The Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire (ITQ) and Presence Questionnaire (UQO-PQ) were used to investigate the interaction between reported pain relief post-intervention with immersion and presence. There was a significant reduction in pain levels (5.1 ± 0.4, mean ± SEM) after short exposure to the scenery (3.1 ± 0.7, = 0.04) and somatic VE (3.0 ± 0.7, = 0.04), with no difference between intervention types ( = 0.56). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the total ITQ score and the change in NRS after the scenery VR intervention (r = 0.743, = 0.035). PQ scores showed no significant correlation with changes in pain following either intervention type. We found that short-term exposure to VR environments results in a reduction in chronic NP intensity in people with SCI.
新兴文献表明，虚拟现实（VR）可能是治疗神经性疼痛（NP）的一种可行疗法。本初步研究旨在探讨 VR 对脊髓损伤（SCI）后 NP 人群的即时影响。招募了 8 名患有慢性 NP 的 SCI 患者，并连续接受风景和躯体虚拟环境（VE）暴露。在暴露于每种 VE 之前和之后使用数字评分量表（NRS）评估疼痛。使用沉浸式倾向问卷（ITQ）和存在问卷（UQO-PQ）调查干预后报告的疼痛缓解与沉浸感和存在感之间的相互作用。短暂暴露于风景 VE（3.1 ± 0.7， = 0.04）和躯体 VE（3.0 ± 0.7， = 0.04）后，疼痛水平显著降低（5.1 ± 0.4，均值 ± SEM），干预类型之间无差异（ = 0.56）。风景 VR 干预后，总 ITQ 评分与 NRS 变化之间存在统计学显著的负相关（r = 0.743， = 0.035）。PQ 评分显示，在两种干预类型后，疼痛变化均与 PQ 评分无显著相关性。我们发现，短期暴露于 VR 环境可降低 SCI 患者慢性 NP 的强度。
