Virtual Reality: The Alternative To Marijuana And Opioids For Pain Management(Media)

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 Das, R. (n.d.). Virtual Reality: The Alternative To Marijuana And Opioids For Pain Management. Retrieved July 20, 2019, from Forbes website: https://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2018/05/31/virtual-reality-the-alternative-to-marijuana-and-opioids-for-pain-management/ 

Healthcare specialists have studied a possible substitute for traditional drug therapy through new VR technologies. Patient driven applications have been created and tested to provide virtual therapy through visual distraction. Augmented reality is proving to be effective in 5 key areas,

• Prevention
• Improved Pain Management
• Improved Training
• Improved Adherence
• Telemedicine

Virtual reality is most used as a “pain-killer”, as it provides an alternative to dealing with pain , rather then opioids and cannabis. These traditional types of medication can be seen as addictive and resulting in long term effects. Distraction games have been created to provide immersive experiences to deal with chronic pain bringing peaceful scenarios which teach breathing techniques and positive thinking to cope with pain, which can also be hooked up to the patient to monitor vitals and manipulate the experience based on them.

The long term goal to get Virtual Reality more widely used in the health care system is currently challenged by securing funding and getting others involved in test piloting to further develop the technology. But when awareness grows and increasing amounts of hospitals adopt it prices will drop and it will become widely accessible to patients at home.