A 3-D virtual reality system to treat back pain was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week. The EaseVRx system is a prescription device for at-home use that combines cognitive behavioral therapy and other behavioral methods to treat patients 18 and older with chronic lower back pain.

“Pain reduction is a crucial component of living with chronic lower back pain. Today’s authorization offers a treatment option for pain reduction that does not include opioid pain medications when used alongside other treatment methods for chronic lower back pain,” Loftus said in an agency news release.

A treatment program includes 56 VR sessions that are 2 to 16 minutes long as part of a daily eight-week treatment program. The FDA approval is based on a clinical trial that included 179 patients with chronic lower back pain assigned to one of two eight-week VR programs: the EaseVRx 3-D program or a control 2-D program that did not feature CBT methods.

One, two and three months after treatment, all EaseVRx users still reported a 30% reduction in pain, which was higher than in the control group. Nearly 21% of EaseVRx users reported discomfort with the headset and about 10% reported motion sickness and nausea, but there were no serious side effects associated with the system, which is made by AppliedVR.

Source:  https://www.upi.com/