Shielding the Pain Away: Examining the Role of the Head-Mounted Display in Experimental Acute Pain Reduction

Abstract

As an emerging technology, virtual reality (VR) poses the potential to transform experiences of acute pain in health settings. This study examined whether a competing environmental stimulus (CES) would yield a differential effect between immersive and non-immersive distraction trials during an experimental pain trial, and whether those results would differ by gender. One hundred and twenty-six emerging adults were enrolled in this study. Participants were randomly assigned by gender to one of four groups: Distraction/CES; Control/CES; Distraction/n-CES; and Control/n-CES. Pain tolerance and intensity and user engagement measures were collected. Results indicated differential effects by gender in the absence of a CES, with female participants benefiting from distraction. In the CES groups, there were no significant differences between distraction and control pain tolerance scores in either gender. Finally, there were no significant differences between immersive and non-immersive distraction modalities on pain outcomes. The findings of this study suggests an interaction between environment and gender on acute pain experiences, and that further investigation is needed to understand the difference between immersive and non-immersive distraction.