Tuesday 19 November 2019
There is growing interest in the use of Virtual Reality (VR) as a treatment for persistent pain and this week sees the start of a project investigating the introduction of VR technology to HSC.
The Pain Management Team works with individuals, who have been in pain for many months and years. Some patients with persistent pain find it difficult to function properly because of their pain. Often the pain persists because the brain and nervous system have become hard wired to report pain, even in the absence of physical damage. The focus of Pain Management Team is to empower the patient to self-manage and rehabilitate so that pain because less intrusive in their daily lives.
Sarah Ticho, the founder of Hatsumivr (hatsumivr.com) is visiting Guernsey this week to work with staff to help look at the role of VR in health - specifically in pain management.
During her visit, Sarah will work with the Pain Management Team to explore areas such as:
- What is the analgesic effect of VR in terms of medication reduction; and
- How do we translate VR into better normal function
Physiotherapist Mike Linnett from the Pain Management Team said:
'Working with Sarah, and drawing on my own experience of using VR for pain management in the UK, will help us to establish the potential of the emerging technology.
Whilst this project is in the very early stages, I am hopeful that this visit will be the first of many and might lead to opportunities to use Guernsey for research and development in this exciting area of development'
