Clinical Implications and Recommendations
chronic pain, pain
CHRONIC PAIN, MINOR, ADVERSE EFFECTS
A CBT-based VR intervention might offer a valuable contribution to the multidisciplinary biopsychosocial treatment of CLBP and possibly other chronic pain conditions. This study illustrates that VR pain treatment can be brought close to the patient’s personal environment allowing them to access the treatment at a time and place of their choice. This VR intervention might serve as a tool to narrow the “know-do” gap and help therapists and physicians to apply the psychosocial components of CLBP treatment. VR has the potential to enhance treatment effects through emotional engagement, sense of presence, and personal experiences and might, therefore, have added value over other home-based behavioral therapies.We hypothesize that the extension of the session and total duration of the intervention while avoiding repetitiveness, could contribute to the success of this VR application. Further intensifying VR use seems possible considering the low rate of minor adverse effects in the current study. Based on the results of this study, no claims can be made about the cost-effectiveness of this VR intervention. Establishing the cost-effectiveness of treatment for chronic pain proves very complex due to the multiple domains of life that chronic pain affects.