Virtual Reality Game Soothes Burn Victims
Stories about the beneficial aspects of gaming should be heralded far and wide when they pertain to aiding the pediatric medical community. Virtual Reality designers have developed the game SnowWorld to help burn victims through the painful rehabilitation process.
Hunter Hoffman, the director of the University of Washington’s Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center in Seattle, designed the game because burn victims frequently re-experience the sensation of getting burned when they are getting treatments for their wounds.
“So, our idea was to create this ‘cool’ scenario—imagery of snowflakes, an icy world of snowmen and penguins—things that are the antithesis of fire,” Hoffman stated.
Pain medication for adults cannot be used on children, so doctors have started to use SnowWorld as a way to combat physical pain with children. Pain required sustained physical attention, if you distract the brain enough, the pain will not be as severe.
SnowWorld has shown promise in other medical fields, such as reducing anxiety during dental exams and during cerebral palsy rehabilitation after surgery. The software is being offered free of charge to several hospitals in Seattle, New York City, Houston and Galveston.
Virtual Reality Soothes Young Burn Patients [Medicine Net]
Toots
Posted to Video Games on 3 January 2007
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