SnowWorld VR Game Reduces Pain For Burn Patients

Bonker writes "The Beeb has news of a simple virtual reality game being used during treatments and rehabilitation for burn patients. Players who engage in a fast-paced snowball fight with penguins and snowmen report feeling less pain. SnowWorld was developed by Professor Hunter Hoffman and Professor David Patterson at the University of Washington Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. Hoffman said, 'Because humans are so visually dominant, wherever you're looking typically that's where your attention is focused. (For patients) during wound care, when they're getting their bandages changed, they're looking at these different tools that the nurses are using to treat them, and just looking at those objects makes them anxious. They begin to associate objects in the room with high pain so you can imagine that day after day they start to develop psychological associations between the treatment room and pain, amplifying how much pain they experience.'"