VRforHealth’s first Webinar in the VRforHealth Live series is now available for viewing on our official YouTube channel. “VR & Pain – the Patient Experience” features a one-on-one conversation between VRforHealth co-founder and digital health pioneer Denise Silber and Tom Norris, a chronic pain patient, patient advocate, and retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-Colonel. Tom also leads chronic pain support groups through the American Chronic Pain Association and serves as a patient advisor for research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The hour-long webinar engages with a vast array of pertinent topics relevant to the management of chronic pain with novel Virtual Reality therapies; Denise’s expertise on the clinical and commercial direction of Virtual Reality therapies and technologies perfectly complements Tom’s firsthand experience utilizing Virtual Reality to treat his own chronic pain. Tom and Denise’s passion for patient advocacy is evident as the two discuss which resources would be most beneficial for patients looking to treat their chronic pain with VR therapy, from specific software that has aided Tom’s pain management to medical centers leading in the field of VR therapy. Tom and Denise’s relationships with leading physicians pursuing these therapies also leads to an identification of key neurological mechanisms in pain management that are targeted by Virtual Reality and available resources for further research.
This webinar serves as an extension of VRforHealth’s broader mission to consolidate and promote informational resources regarding use cases of Virtual Reality in treating otherwise pervasive and difficult-to-treat conditions. While the webinar’s discussion of chronic pain presents a comprehensive overview of this specific condition and the manner in which it can be helped by Virtual Reality, the dialogue on Virtual Reality’s mechanism of action is relevant to anyone interested in the intersection of technology and healthcare, emerging alternative therapies, and the neurological regulation of physical phenomena. As the presence of virtual reality in healthcare settings continues to grow, as Tom attests to, this information is essential in ensuring that all those who could benefit from the vast applications of Virtual Reality have the opportunity to do so.
