Time and again, gaming technology has proven its ability to benefit our lives in ways that surpass entertainment. It has been utilized in medical and therapeutic applications ranging from helping stroke victims restore functionality , to training users to control stress and multi-task . Another example recently came to my attention this morning, thanks to this news story , which explains how a virtual reality game called SnowWorld is helping burn patients cope with severe pain during wound care sessions, when morphine is simply not strong enough to do the job.
According to researchers at the University of Washington Seattle and U.W. Harborview Burn Center, over 86% of burn patients report experiencing severe to excruciating pain during wound care, even when treated with opioids (morphine and morphine-related chemicals). Researchers at UW developed an immersive virtual reality technique to offer burn patients much-needed pain relief during these times. Their efforts eventually morphed into the development of SnowWorld, an immersive virtual world in which users wear headphones and virtual reality goggles to escape into a virtual winter wonderland.
In clinical trials, burn patients using SnowWorld reported a 35 to 50 percent reduction in pain. According to researchers, since pain requires conscious attention, the key to the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy is to distract patients by allowing them to explore a virtual world instead of focusing on their intense pain.
The applications for this technology may also extend into treatment for chronic pain. As this technology continues to gain ground, it will be interesting to see how gaming technology will be manipulated to play an increasingly larger role in non-drug-based therapy.
Read more about the UW researchers' efforts here.
