NEW YORK - A recent study states that divert attention to a sick patient by using the virtual world of video games, can reduce pain, even for older patients who have never played the game. "I was very surprised at the level of response shown by older patients, because they had not previously received diversion through video games and virtual reality (VR), unlike younger patients," said Sam Sharar, a patient anesthesiology at Washington University .
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As quoted by Reuters on Tuesday (14/06/2011), VR therapy in this study involves a video-game with the look of a mountain peak, which was developed by Hunter Hoffman, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Washington.
In this study, 25 adults aged 60 years and over, randomly selected to be placed in high or low VR environment.
The research project called SnowWorld were presented at the annual meeting of the American Pain Society in the United States (U.S.).
