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Virtual reality key to managing chronic pain

March 1st, 2012

Studies underway in Diane Gromala’s pain studies lab are testing whether those in chronic pain may get more relief from being fully immersed in a virtual experience – such as a 3-D skiing adventure computer game – than taking pain medication.

Visitors to the lab during SFU Surrey’s March 1 Open House will have a chance to see its virtual walking meditation project, where subjects walk on a treadmill viewing a 3-D scene of a forest, that changes according to the body’s physiological readings.

Gromala, an associate professor in the School for Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) and fellow researchers will be on hand to talk about the lab and the new computerized therapies being developed there.

Gromala heads the Transforming Pain Research Group at SFU and the VR lab is the only one of its kind, anywhere.

The research is showing that computerized therapies can give people in chronic pain – one in five Canadians – ways to cope while they wait for treatment from specialist.

The lab tour is one of many opportunities to see SFU research first-hand during SFU Surrey’s open house.

Provided by Simon Fraser University

Citation: Virtual reality key to managing chronic pain (2012, March 1) retrieved 8 August 2026 from https://sciencex.com/wire-news/92042963/virtual-reality-key-to-managing-chronic-pain.html

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