Chronic pain education delivered with a virtual reality headset in outpatient physical therapy clinics: a multi-site...

Chronic pain is multidimensional, requiring expanded interventions for optimal management. Pain education, mindfulness training, and virtual reality (VR) are showing promise, but barriers remain for implementation by clinicians. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences with a pain education and mindfulness intervention for patients with chronic low back pain and their treating clinicians.

This was a prospectively designed exploratory trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04777877. Patients were identified by study staff and consented. Baseline and follow-up questionnaires and surveys were collected with quantitative and qualitative data. Patients viewed five videos explaining key pain concepts and guided imagery nature videos using a VR headset.

Twenty patients consented, and 15 patients completed the intervention. Patients and clinicians rated their experiences with the program as excellent; however, concerns were raised related to logistical challenges around use of the VR headset in busy clinic settings. Percentage changes in patient pain knowledge occurred in the desired direction in 8 out of 9 key concepts.

Delivering educational and mindfulness content with a VR headset to patients with chronic low back pain was feasible and acceptable to patients and clinicians. Concerns remain regarding the increased time burden with use of this technology in a busy clinic setting weighed against potential benefits. Alternative delivery methods are needed to reduce logistical challenges and increase patient access to content outside of the clinic setting.