Water-friendly Virtual Reality and Brief Thermal Pain

Using immersive virtual reality as a form of pain distraction during a brief "painful but tolerable" temperature.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain, Acute
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Virtual Reality psychological pain reduction

Detailed Description

This study will use Quantitative Sensory Testing (computer-controlled brief 10 second thermal pain stimuli) in healthy college students.

The primary aim is to conduct a randomized, controlled study with healthy volunteers to explore whether interacting with virtual objects in VR via a high tech interactive VR system makes VR significantly more effective/powerful compared to a less immersive passive VR system, vs. No VR, for reducing pain during quantitative sensory testing.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 92
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98195
      • University of Washington (public not eligible for participation)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Currently enrolled in a course at the University of Washington Psychology Dept., participating in the UW Psychology subject pool
• Able to read, write and comprehend English
• Able to complete study measures
• Willing to follow our UW approved instructions
• 18 years of age or older

Exclusion Criteria:

• People how have already previously participated in this same study (e.g., last quarter) are not eligible to participate again.
• Not enrolled in a course at the University of Washington Psychology Dept., participating in the UW Psychology subject pool
• Not be able to read, write and comprehend English
• Younger than 18 years of age.
• Not capable of completing measures
• Not capable of indicating pain intensity,
• Not capable of filling out study measures,
• Extreme susceptibility to motion sickness,
• Seizure history,
• Unusual sensitivity or lack of sensitivity to pain,
• Sensitive skin,
• sensitive feet,
• migraines,
• Diabetes.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control Group; No treatment, side study to test the assumptions of our quantitative sensory testing pain paradigm
Active Comparator: Low Tech/passive Virtual Reality first; Low Tech VR first brief test phase thermal stimulus + High Tech VR during a second test phase pain stimulus	Behavioral: Virtual Reality psychological pain reduction; attention distraction
Experimental: High Tech/interactive Virtual Reality first; High Tech/Interactive VR during first brief test phase thermal stimulus + Low Tech VR during a second brief thermal stimulus.	Behavioral: Virtual Reality psychological pain reduction; attention distraction

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
participants rating of "worst pain "	using a single graphic rating scale, 0 = no pain, 10 = excruciating pain	immediately after each single 10 second test phase quantitative sensory test stimulus during a single visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
participants rating of "time spent thinking about pain"	using a single graphic rating scale, 0 = none of the time, 10 = all of the time	immediately after each single 10 second quantitative sensory test stimulus during a single visit
participants rating of "pain unpleasantness "	using a single graphic rating scale, 0 = no pain, 10 = excruciating pain	immediately after each single 10 second quantitative sensory test stimulus during a single visit

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
participants rating of "fun"	using a single graphic rating scale, 0 = no fun, 10 = extremely fun.	immediately after each single 10 second quantitative sensory test stimulus during a single visit

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Collaborators: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: HUNTER HOFFMAN, PhD, University of Washington

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Hoffman HG. Interacting with virtual objects via embodied avatar hands reduces pain intensity and diverts attention. Sci Rep. 2021 May 21;11(1):10672. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89526-4.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 30, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 23, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 28, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 29, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 26, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 23, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pain control
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Acute Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00007801; R01GM042725 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No