Virtual Reality Distraction for Anxiety Reduction During Trigger Points Procedures in Pain Medicine Clinic

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study aims to evaluate the effect of Virtual Reality (VR) as a distraction method to help those patients undergoing trigger points therapy to reduce anxiety and increase patient satisfaction. Half of the participants will wear VR gear, meanwhile the other half will be in control group, which will not wear VR headset, only the normal care.

Detailed Description
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trigger points can cause a wide range of pain symptoms; pain in the anterior shoulder and down the arm, headache pain, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, frozen shoulder pain, and other symptoms. Local anesthetic injections and lidocaine injections are common wet needling treatments for trigger points injections. The proposed mechanism by which trigger points injections alleviate pain is based on mechanical disruption of the taut bands of muscle with palpation based needling. During injections, patients may feel an intensified pain and a twitch response. Distraction has been proved to be an effective tool in pain management, and it can also be used for a variety of medical procedures. By engaging in assigned tasks, pain and anxiety are assumed to be lessened throughout the procedure, while leaving patients less occupied by pain stimuli. . An immersive virtual environment may be preferable to medications such as sedatives, due to side effects and prolonged discharge from procedure suite. Occasionally, medications may not even be available in a busy interventional pain suite. At the UCD pain clinic, we do not offer sedating medications for bedside procedures like trigger point injections. By wearing VR headset, patients may feel less tense, anxious, and painful during trigger point injections.

Official Title
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Virtual Reality Distraction for Anxiety Reduction During Trigger Points Procedures in Pain Medicine Clinic

Conditions
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Pain Management

Intervention / Treatment
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* Device: Virtual Reality headset


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Patients aged over 18 years old, who are referred to UC Davis Pain Medicine Clinic and are candidates for trigger point injections, are English speaking and can understand oral and written instructions Exclusion Criteria: Patients who have high risk of motion sickness, seizure disorder, visual/hearing impairment, prisoners or are pregnant are not eligible for this study.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Virtual Reality intervention<br>Participants will be wearing Virtual Reality headset called Oculus gear equipped with Samsung galaxy S7 during the trigger point injections. The VR app chosen is called Relax VR - Rest, Relaxation & Meditation, which will provide a calm beach scene with waves and soothing musics. | Device: Virtual Reality headset<br>* The participants in this group would wear Virtual Reality headset called Oculus Gear VR during their trigger point injections.<br>|
| No Intervention: control<br>Participants in this group will receive trigger point injections without any intervention. The trigger point injections will be performed in daily manner. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in anxiety level | Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory items measuring state anxiety. All items are rated on a 4-point scale, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety. | Immediately pre- and post-procedure | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in pain score | Participants will be asked to indicate pain score in a scale of 0-10, with higher scores indicating greater pain. | Immediately pre- and post-procedure | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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virtual reality, trigger point injections