SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
Virtual Reality Assisted Non-Pharmacological Treatments in Chronic Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 34 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of Telemonitoring-supported Game-based Home Exercises on Kinesiophobia, Pain and Quality of Life in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Implementation of an At-Home Multimodal Integrative Therapy Via Virtual Reality for Patients With Cancer-Treatment Associated Symptoms
Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Versus Scapular Mobility Exercise on Pain, Range of Motion and Disability Among Snooker Players in Unilateral Neck Pain
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness and adverse effects of immersive technologies used for rehabilitation of patients with non-specific neck pain: a systematic review.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of VR-based cognitive training and games on cognitive rehabilitation in patients with MCI: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Virtual Reality-Based Training in Chronic Low Back Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy of virtual reality-based training programs and games on the improvement of cognitive disorders in patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Virtual reality for chronic primary low back pain in adults: systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- A feasibility and acceptability of virtual reality as a pain relief measure post primary and revision total knee replacement surgery in a hospital setting: quasi-experimental study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Randomized-controlled trial of skills-based vr vs. distraction vr vs. sham VR for chronic low back pain.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Interest in and Predictors of Engagement With a Virtual Reality Intervention Among People With Chronic Pain: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Acceptability, Usability, and Effectiveness of a Music Video Game for Pain Management: A Crossover Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- Virtual Reality for Patients With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Disability: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews.Health science reports · 2025Review
- Assessment of Spatial Presence Experiences and Symptoms of Cybersickness in Dynamic and Static Virtual Environments.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Combining Hypnosis and Virtual Reality: A Qualitative Investigation of User Experience During an Experimental Pain Study.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of oralWorld journal of orthopedics · 2025Article
- Quantifying Impairments in the Subacute Phase of Whiplash Associated Disorders-A Cross-Sectional Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effectiveness and user experience of a virtual reality intervention in a cohort of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Comparing between virtual reality based pre-clinical implantation training and traditional learning methods.PeerJ · 2025Article
- The Interplay Between Health Disparities and Acceptability of Virtual Reality: A Survey Study.Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking · 2024Article
- Extended Reality Analgesia Evidence Reviews Often Lack Sufficient Intervention Detail.Journal of medical extended reality · 2024Article
- The Role of Virtual Reality in the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Current gastroenterology reports · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) is a developing technology that has recently attracted the attention of healthcare practitioners. Recently, VR systems have been used to treat pain symptoms. The present study aims to evaluate the VR effectiveness on chronic pain management. A systematic literature search was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Keywords were used to discover the potentially eligible studies. The primary focus of the present investigation was to evaluate the possible effect of VR-assisted treatments on chronic pain, especially in the commonly occurring low back and neck pain. Nine studies reporting randomized controlled trials were included in the present study. VR-mediated interventions demonstrated significant improvement for pain symptoms in patients experiencing chronic pain. In addition, VR-mediated therapy decreased pain intensity and disability in the case of chronic neck pain compared to control conditions. However, the VR interventions showed a statistically non-significant improvement in chronic low back pain when experimental groups were compared with controls. VR therapy positive effect on chronic pain did not differ from the one reported for other types of interventions for pain management, as physical exercise and laser therapy. Taken together, these findings showed that currently available lines of evidence on the effect of VR-mediated therapy in chronic pain management, despite pointing towards possible therapeutical benefits of the VR-based intervention, are overall inconclusive and that more research on VR-assisted therapy for chronic pain is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.