Advancing Care with Immersive Therapeutics

A category of medical devices that use extended reality (XR) such as virtual reality and augmented reality to provide therapy for diagnosed medical conditions.

ABOUT VIRTUAL REALITY

How Virtual Reality Works

Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that recreates a 3D environment while using a combination of advanced software, hardware, and design. VR users can effortlessly interact with the environments displayed in VR headsets and experience engaging visuals, sounds, and even sensations. Because of the interactivity and sensory-rich environment, people feel as if they truly are in a different place, world, and even reality.

MECHANISM OF ACTION

VR Alters the Brain's
Perception of Pain

The unique ability of VR to command our senses via a highly immersive and interactive constructed environment makes it an effective tool for the designed modulation of attention. Over 30 years of academic research suggests that this redirection of attention may play a key role in the management of serious conditions such as pain and anxiety.

Source: K.M. Malloy, L.S. Milling. The effectiveness of virtual reality distraction for pain reduction: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review 30 (2010) 1011–101

VR Has Been Shown to Reduce Pain-Related Activity in all 5 Regions of the Brain Associated with Pain

Source: Hoffman, H.G., et al. Modulation of thermal pain-related brain activity with virtual reality: evidence from fMRI. Neuroreport, 8. 2004, 1245-8

VR THERAPEUTICS

Proven and Accessible

VR has demonstrated effective management of acute and chronic health conditions, such as anxiety or pain, without the side effects or addictive tendencies of many pharmaceutical options.

30 Years of Academic Research

AppliedVR is building on decades of clinical research on virtual reality conducted across an array of disease areas including pain, stroke, behavioral health, and neurodegeneration.

VR Health Applications

Source: Dascal, J., et al. Virtual Reality and Medical Inpatients: A systematic Review of Randomized, Controlled Trials. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2017; 14(1-2): 14-21

VR is a Fundamentally Unique Modality

VR can provide an enhanced therapeutic effect through its distinctive attributes.¹

Sources:
1. Spiegel B, Fuller G, Lopez M, Dupuy T, Noah B, Howard A, et al. (2019) Virtual reality for management of pain in hospitalized patients: A randomized comparative effectiveness trial. PLoS ONE 14(8): e0219115. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0219115
2. Gershon. J. et al. A pilot and Feasibility Study of VIrtual Reality as a distraction for children with cancer. J. AM. ACAD. CHILD ADOLESC. PSYCHIATRY, 43:10, OCTOBER 2004.
3. Garcia LM, Birckhead BJ, Krishnamurthy P, et al. An 8-Week Self-Administered At-Home Behavioral Skills-Based Virtual Reality Program for Chronic Low Back Pain: Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial Conducted During COVID-19. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(2):e26292. Published 2021 Feb 22. doi:10.2196/26292

VR Technology is More Immersive, Effective, and Scalable than Ever

Until now, VR technology has been expensive, bulky, difficult to use, and confined to the laboratory. Today, we can deliver our therapeutic VR program directly to the patient's home.