The Feasibility & Effectiveness of Virtual Reality in Reducing Pain for Older Adults With Knee Osteoarthritis

Virtual reality has been shown to be feasible for a variety of populations, including young people with autism experiencing specific phobia, pediatric burn patients, and young adults. However, there is limited evidence on the feasibility of VR for treating pain for the older adult population. Preliminary studies demonstrate the feasibility and safe qualities of immersive VR as a treatment tool for older adults with cognitive and physical impairments. One study demonstrated that older adults reported no negative side effects and 76% of the group wanted to try VR again. Furthermore, preliminary evidence on the feasibility of use in the clinic in terms of the construct of time was demonstrated.

Another study found that young adults and older adults who engaged in an immersive spatial navigation VR environment reported similar experiences, demonstrating that older adults experienced acceptable adverse effects and reported enjoyment through the VR immersion. Further recent studies provide evidence on the attitudes and treatment acceptability of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain towards VR as a distraction therapy for chronic pain exacerbations. These researchers discovered that 73.4% of the participants found VR to be an acceptable way to manage pain, and 73.3% reported they would be willing to use it for their pain. Only 26% of the participants experienced side effects such as general discomfort or eyestrain. Additionally, the qualitative data in this study suggests greater ease of use with sufficient practice and a preference towards relaxation, meditation, or biofeedback simulations with realistic images.

Thirty percent of older adults in the United States report experiencing chronic pain, with 41% of this subset of the population experiencing chronic joint pain. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) affects 37% of individuals aged 60 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination. This condition typically involves pain, stiffness, reduced joint motion and muscle weakness, and chronic pain that can have profound effects on physical function, psychological parameters, and overall quality of life. In knee OA, cartilage in the knee is lost and there is failed repair of joint damage, as OA is a disease of the whole joint. There is also often a discrepancy between severity of symptoms and severity of knee OA, which may relate to pain sensitization, adaptation to chronic pain, or reduction in activity to avoid pain.

In Virtual Reality (VR) people experience a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment via a computer headset. There are several mechanisms through which VR has been shown to effectively reduce pain. For one, gate theory of attention proposes that VR reduces perception of pain by absorbing and diverting attention away from pain. Dr. Brennan Spiegel, director of Cedars-Sinai Health Services Research, reports that VR's ability to distract the brain allows the brain to relax. He states that this modality "triggers signals that release natural pain-killing opioids from the spinal cord, essentially closing the gate, blocking the pain". Therefore, VR distraction may be a useful tool for clinicians who work with clients experiencing a variety of pain-related conditions, such as chronic knee osteoarthritis.

This pilot study will build off of these preliminary studies by working from the basis that older adults generally enjoy their immersive VR experience and including some of the relevant key requirements for immersive environments such as individual briefing and user-friendly handling. There are still many questions that need to be answered about the feasibility of VR as a clinical tool and its effectiveness in decreasing chronic pain, specifically for older adults. Therefore, this pilot study will look more into these topic areas through a subset of the population of older adults with chronic pain.