Virtual reality as an adjunctive non-pharmacologic analgesic for acute burn pain during medical procedures.

Introduction: Excessive pain during medical procedures is a widespread problem but is especially problematic during daily wound care of patients with severe burn injuries.

Methods: Burn patients report 35-50% reductions in procedural pain while in a distracting immersive virtual reality, and fMRI brain scans show associated reductions in pain-related brain activity during VR. VR distraction appears to be most effective for patients with the highest pain intensity levels.