Won, A.S., Tataru, C. A., Cojocaru, C.A., Krane, E.J., Bailenson, J.N., Niswonger, S., Golianu, B. (2015). Two Virtual Reality Pilot Studies for the Treatment of Pediatric CRPS. Pain Medicine. 00-00.

Abstract

Because virtual reality (VR) replaces sensory information  from  the  physical  world,  users  may  partially replace their sense of presence in the physical world, or in their physical body. This quality of presence was first used to treat pain using distraction  and has also been used to produce relaxation or increased engagement  (e.g.,  in  physical  therapy).  A  second quality that may be utilized in pain treatment is flexibility: the ability to change the relationship between a participant’s appearance and/or actions in the physical world, and the appearance and actions that this participant perceives virtually. Leveraging the flexibility of virtual reality allows the creation of avatars whose movements differ from that of the participants’ own, allowing more radical interventions than mirroring the unaffected limb. Following Lanier’s concept of homuncular  flexibility,  researchers  have  demonstrated that users can learn to identify with avatars that have very different bodies  and learn to control these avatars very rapidly. We propose that using such novel bodies may also be therapeutic for pain.