Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking
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Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialApplication of virtual body swapping to patients with complex regional pain syndrome: a pilot study.
This study aimed to apply virtual body swapping through mental rehearsal for patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and to investigate whether it is applicable to them. Ten patients who met the diagnostic criterion for CRPS type 1 were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. All participants were asked to watch the virtual body swapping training video clip with a head mounted display. ⋯ No difference between the groups was found for pain intensity, however, the treatment group showed significantly more improvement in body perception disturbance (BPD) after the treatment than the control group. Even if the presented study is a preliminary one, the above results suggest that virtual body swapping through mental rehearsal is applicable for patients with CRPS and may be useful for improving BPD. The limitations of the study and the future investigations needed to provide clearer clinical suggestions are presented and discussed.
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Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialDifferential effects of two virtual reality interventions: distraction versus pain control.
There is evidence that virtual reality (VR) pain distraction is effective at improving pain-related outcomes. However, more research is needed to investigate VR environments with other pain-related goals. The main aim of this study was to compare the differential effects of two VR environments on a set of pain-related and cognitive variables during a cold pressor experiment. ⋯ The VRD intervention significantly increased the pain threshold and pain tolerance in comparison with the control condition, but it did not affect any of the cognitive variables. Overall, the intervention designed to enhance control seems to have a greater effect on the cognitive variables assessed. Although these results need to be replicated in further studies, the findings suggest that the VRC intervention has considerable potential in terms of increasing self-efficacy and modifying the negative thoughts that commonly accompany pain problems.