THE HEALING GAME
Virtual reality offers patients a distraction
Starlight Xperience, Sony Playstation VR, and Meta Oculus Quest all sound like high-tech game devices, and indeed they are. At Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, however, patients from age 10 to adult get more than a good time out of playing them. The virtual reality (VR) games made possible by these devices provide therapeutic assistance. Studies have shown that virtual reality therapy helps reduce pain for hospitalized patients. Some patients continue with the VR experience to assist with pain and anxiety after leaving the hospital.
“These VR games, along with Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, ipads, and Amazon Fire tablets, help with normalization of long-term hospital stays, alleviate boredom while waiting on results, help calm anxiety before and after doing procedures, and assist with pain management and ambulation,” explains Ansel “Adam” Davis, patient technology specialist at Golisano.
The games are carefully curated to be user friendly, less graphically intense than other VR sets, and need little to no instruction to operate. Children and young adults are taken away to another reality to become immersed in learning about sea life, playing mini-golf or basketball, fishing, riding on a rollercoaster, exploring other galaxies, and defeating bad guys, dragons, and wizards.
“All of this—without even leaving the bed!” adds Davis, who sometimes sits with patients while they play to offer assistance and direction.
Studies have shown that virtual reality therapy helps reduce pain for hospitalized patients.
While some VR experiences are perfect for staying in bed, others are designed for getting a patient to move. The Oculus Quest 2 offers the Beat Saber game where the player has a lightsaber in each hand, selects an upbeat popular song, and swings away at flying boxes, while music by notable artists such as Maroon 5 and Lady Gaga accompanies the action.
“This is an amazing way for a patient to get up, burn some energy, and just have a fun way of healing and ambulating,” explains Davis.
There are also calmer options, such as a space exploration game that includes meditation and breathing exercises. Older children and young adults can also choose to watch a concert.
“Like with medicine, technology is also always changing and evolving to help heal,” explains Davis.