Virtual Reality and Digital Therapeutics in Chronic Pain: Distraction, Reconceptualisation or Neither
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22548956Keywords:
Virtual reality, Digital therapeutics, Chronic pain, Distraction, Pain neuroscience education, Digital healthAbstract
Virtual reality and digital therapeutic platforms for chronic pain have moved from novelty to an
increasingly evidenced clinical tool, but the mechanism by which they help remains contested: some
applications rely primarily on attentional distraction, others on delivering pain neuroscience education
and cognitive-behavioural content through an immersive medium, and the two are not equally durable.
Trial evidence for acute procedural pain distraction is strong and consistent, while evidence for chronic
pain is more heterogeneous, with the largest effects reported for platforms combining education and
behavioural content rather than distraction alone, and effect persistence beyond the intervention period
varying considerably by mechanism. This review synthesises the randomised trial and systematic review
literature on virtual reality and digital therapeutics for chronic pain to clarify what mechanism, if any,
each category of application is actually delivering.
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