Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Sep 20, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 20, 2022 - Nov 15, 2022
Date Accepted: Mar 17, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Efficacy of virtual reality therapy on pain, kinematic function, and disability in patients with chronic neck pain: a randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Neck pain is a prevalent condition and causes an enormous healthcare burden due to the lacking of efficient therapies. As a promising technology, Virtual reality (VR) has shown its advantages in orthopedic rehabilitation. However, there is a lack of high-quality studies evaluating the effectiveness of VR on chronic neck pain management.
Objective:
This study aims to compare the effect of virtual reality (VR) therapy versus conventional physiotherapy on pain, disability, and kinematic function in patients with chronic neck pain.
Methods:
An assessor-blinded, allocation-concealed randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted. Sixty-four participants with chronic neck pain were randomly allocated into the immersive VR therapy or conventional physiotherapy group and received ten treatment sessions over four weeks. Pain intensity, disability, kinematic function (cervical range of motion [CROM], proprioception, and mean and peak velocity), degree of satisfaction, and the relief of symptoms of patients were evaluated at three measuring time points (baseline, post-intervention, and 3 months follow-up). A 2*3 mixed repeated measure ANOVA was applied to analyze the difference between mean values over each indicator at an alpha level of 0.05.
Results:
Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in pain, disability, and kinematic functions except proprioception (P＜0.05) at post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Better therapeutic efficacy was observed in the VR group than in control in terms of improving pain (P＜0.01), disability (P＜0.01), and kinematic functions, satisfaction, and the relief of symptoms (P＜0.05). However, the curative effect on proprioception was not found in both groups. No adverse events were reported or observed in the present study.
Conclusions:
Results of this study supported the application of VR therapy in alleviating pain, disability, and kinematic function for patients with chronic neck pain. Future research needs to explore the potential effects of VR on proprioception and its subsequent application in home-based rehabilitation. Clinical Trial: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2000040132 http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=64346
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