• Popular
    • Medicine
    • Radiology
    • Cardiology
    • Surgery
    • Nanomedicine
    • Military Medicine
    • Rehab
  • Categories
    • Exclusive
    • A-D
      • Anesthesiology
      • Art
      • Cardiac Surgery
      • Cardiology
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diagnostics
    • E-I
      • Emergency Medicine
      • ENT
      • Genetics
      • Geriatrics
      • GI
      • Informatics
    • M-N
      • Medicine
      • Military Medicine
      • Nanomedicine
      • Net News
      • Neurology
      • Neurosurgery
      • Nuclear Medicine
    • O-P
      • Ob/Gyn
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopedic Surgery
      • Pathology
      • Pediatrics
      • Plastic Surgery
      • Psychiatry
      • Public Health
    • R-V
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Rehab
      • Reproductive Medicine
      • Space Medicine
      • Sports Medicine
      • Surgery
      • Thoracic Surgery
      • Urology
      • Vascular Surgery
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Submit PR
  • About
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Youtube
    • Instagram
    • RSS
  • Submit PR
  • Log in
Medgadget
Medgadget
  • Popular
    • Medicine
      Investigating Bacterial Motion for New Treatment Strategies

      Investigating Bacterial Motion for New Treatment Strategies

      Smart Sutures Sense Inflammation, Deliver Drugs, Cells

      Smart Sutures Sense Inflammation, Deliver Drugs, Cells

      siRNA as a COVID-19 Treatment

      siRNA as a COVID-19 Treatment

      Cancer Organoids Offer Insights into Treatment Outcomes

      Cancer Organoids Offer Insights into Treatment Outcomes

    • Radiology
      Implanted Ultrasound Lets Chemo Access Brain

      Implanted Ultrasound Lets Chemo Access Brain

      Wearable Ultrasound Measures Tissue Stiffness Under Skin

      Wearable Ultrasound Measures Tissue Stiffness Under Skin

      Brain Decoder Spells Out Thoughts

      Brain Decoder Spells Out Thoughts

      RF Technology for Health Monitoring: Michael Leabman, CTO of Movano Health

      RF Technology for Health Monitoring: Michael Leabman, CTO of Movano Health

    • Cardiology
      Pencil-on-Paper Wearable Sensor

      Pencil-on-Paper Wearable Sensor

      Cell Culture Chamber Mimics Mechanical States of Disease

      Cell Culture Chamber Mimics Mechanical States of Disease

      Chest Wearable Provides Key Heart Measurements

      Chest Wearable Provides Key Heart Measurements

      Vein on a Chip Includes Flexible Valves

      Vein on a Chip Includes Flexible Valves

    • Surgery
      Smart Sutures Sense Inflammation, Deliver Drugs, Cells

      Smart Sutures Sense Inflammation, Deliver Drugs, Cells

      Automated Computer Assistant for Kidney Transplant Rejection Diagnostics: Interview with Study Authors

      Automated Computer Assistant for Kidney Transplant Rejection Diagnostics: Interview with Study Authors

      Soft Robotic Electrode Enables Minimally Invasive Placement

      Soft Robotic Electrode Enables Minimally Invasive Placement

      Wound Dressing Detects Infection, Changes Color

      Wound Dressing Detects Infection, Changes Color

    • Nanomedicine
      Bottlebrush Nanoparticles Deliver Immunostimulatory Drugs

      Bottlebrush Nanoparticles Deliver Immunostimulatory Drugs

      Nanoparticles Deliver mRNA Therapy to the Lungs

      Nanoparticles Deliver mRNA Therapy to the Lungs

      Nanoparticles Get Lymphatic Vessels Pumping

      Nanoparticles Get Lymphatic Vessels Pumping

      Bottlebrush Particle for Synergistic Drug Combinations

      Bottlebrush Particle for Synergistic Drug Combinations

    • Military Medicine
      Wearable Can Take Multiple Sweat Samples

      Wearable Can Take Multiple Sweat Samples

      Wound Dressing Detects Infection, Changes Color

      Wound Dressing Detects Infection, Changes Color

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Fingertip Sensor Measures Lithium Levels in Sweat

      Fingertip Sensor Measures Lithium Levels in Sweat

    • Rehab
      Brain Decoder Spells Out Thoughts

      Brain Decoder Spells Out Thoughts

      Knitted Glove Massages the Hand to Treat Edema

      Knitted Glove Massages the Hand to Treat Edema

      Empowering Stroke Survivors: Interview with Kirsten Carroll, CEO at Kandu Health

      Empowering Stroke Survivors: Interview with Kirsten Carroll, CEO at Kandu Health

      Smart Walking Stick for Visually Impaired People

      Smart Walking Stick for Visually Impaired People

  • Categories
    • Exclusive
    • A-D
      • Anesthesiology
      • Art
      • Cardiac Surgery
      • Cardiology
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diagnostics
    • E-I
      • Emergency Medicine
      • ENT
      • Genetics
      • Geriatrics
      • GI
      • Informatics
    • M-N
      • Medicine
      • Military Medicine
      • Nanomedicine
      • Net News
      • Neurology
      • Neurosurgery
      • Nuclear Medicine
    • O-P
      • Ob/Gyn
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopedic Surgery
      • Pathology
      • Pediatrics
      • Plastic Surgery
      • Psychiatry
      • Public Health
    • R-V
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Rehab
      • Reproductive Medicine
      • Space Medicine
      • Sports Medicine
      • Surgery
      • Thoracic Surgery
      • Urology
      • Vascular Surgery
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Submit PR
  • About
  • Log in
  • Submit PR
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Youtube
    • Instagram
    • RSS

Virtual Reality Helps Young Burn Patients

January 4th, 2007 Josh Umbehr Pain Management, Pediatrics, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry, Rehab

Virtual reality has been used for everything from phantom limb pain, to post-traumatic stress disorder, to phobia of public speaking, and training surgeons for laparoscopic surgeries. Now Hunter Hoffman, who is the director of the Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center for the University of Washington, has helped to design a VR game called SnowWorld to help pediatric burn patients control their pain.

The game is called SnowWorld, and when young burn victims put on its high-tech helmet and get involved in playing, they lose sight of the nurses, equipment and other fearful sights and sounds around them. Instead, they’re immersed in an Arctic world where they lob virtual snowballs at penguins, snowmen and roaring woolly mammoths while speeding through hairpin turns in a canyon of ice.
SnowWorld’s designer, Hunter Hoffman, the director of the University of Washington’s Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center in Seattle, explained that burn victims often re-experience the sensation of getting burned as their wounds are handled during daily care.
“So, our idea was to create this ‘cool’ scenario — imagery of snowflakes, an icy world of snowmen and penguins — things that are the antithesis of fire,” he said.
Pediatric burn victims, especially, need some form of non-medicinal pain control during their treatment. That’s because methods commonly used in adult patients — drugs like morphine, or artificially induced comas — are simply too risky for use in children.
“In fact, all they could give Nathan was a light dose of oxycontin,” Heidi Neisinger said.
Hoffman knew from his own research, and others’ as well, that pain requires sustained attention from the brain. He figured, then, that distraction might help ease it. That’s the theory behind SnowWorld, the first-ever use of virtual reality to help treat severe pain.
Hoffman, a psychologist, teamed up with Seattle-based virtual reality designers Ari Hollander and Howard Rose to perfect the latest version of the game.
“Designing a great virtual world is all about maximizing presence,” Hollander explained. “Trying to make you feel like you are really in that virtual environment.”
Helping kids block out their immediate environment to avoid the anticipatory aspect of pain is key, the experts said.

Read more from The Washington Post . . .
More from the American Pain Society . . .
Homepage . . .

Josh Umbehr

Josh Umbehr, MD founded AtlasMD Concierge Family Practice, one of the fastest growing insurance-free practices in the country. Currently developing an industry leading platform for direct primary care physicians: Atlas EMR Software for Concierge Medicine.

Sponsored

Packaging Compliance Labs (PCL) Celebrates Site Expansion in Grand Rapids, MI

Novel Approach to Assessing Lung Function Enables Improved Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment Decisions in Subject Exposed to Military Burn Pits

U.S. Patent Office Grants Additional Patent Protection For  Exoskeleton Focal-Force Angioplasty Platform

U.S. Patent Office Grants Additional Patent Protection For Exoskeleton Focal-Force Angioplasty Platform

Reliefband® State of Nausea Study Reveals More Than Three-Quarters of Americans Are Prevented from Enjoying Life As a Result of Regular Nausea

Reliefband® State of Nausea Study Reveals More Than Three-Quarters of Americans Are Prevented from Enjoying Life As a Result of Regular Nausea

New AI-Powered Voice Controls Streamline Ultrasound Imaging with All Clarius Handheld Systems

New AI-Powered Voice Controls Streamline Ultrasound Imaging with All Clarius Handheld Systems

interviews & reviews
Automated Computer Assistant for Kidney Transplant Rejection Diagnostics: Interview with Study Authors

Automated Computer Assistant for Kidney Transplant Rejection Diagnostics: Interview with Study Authors

RF Technology for Health Monitoring: Michael Leabman, CTO of Movano Health

RF Technology for Health Monitoring: Michael Leabman, CTO of Movano Health

AI’s role in Healthcare: Exclusive Interview with Catherine Estrampes, President & CEO at GE Healthcare

AI’s role in Healthcare: Exclusive Interview with Catherine Estrampes, President & CEO at GE Healthcare

Digital Self-Neuromodulation Therapy for PTSD: Interview with Oded Kraft, CEO of GrayMatters Health

Digital Self-Neuromodulation Therapy for PTSD: Interview with Oded Kraft, CEO of GrayMatters Health

Levels Is Making Metabolism and Blood Glucose Tracking Accessible To Everyone

Levels Is Making Metabolism and Blood Glucose Tracking Accessible To Everyone

Imagene Profiles Cancer Biomarkers in Real Time

Imagene Profiles Cancer Biomarkers in Real Time

Empowering Stroke Survivors: Interview with Kirsten Carroll, CEO at Kandu Health

Empowering Stroke Survivors: Interview with Kirsten Carroll, CEO at Kandu Health

  • Subscribe
  • Contact us
  • Submit
  • About
  • Back to top
Medgadget

Medical technologies transform the world! Join us and see the progress in real time. At Medgadget, we report the latest technology news, interview leaders in the field, and file dispatches from medical events around the world since 2004.

  • About
  • Editorial policies
  • Contact
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Submit press release
  • Advertise
© Medgadget, Inc. All rights reserved. | The Medical Revolution Will Be Blogged.
Please support this website by adding us to your whitelist in your ad blocker. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! Thank you!
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Email