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A new (virtual) reality in injured workers' pain management & recovery

Studies show that VR therapy can help rewire the brain to reduce reliance on prescription painkillers and ease injury-related fears.

Businesswoman portrait in vr glasses headset, cyber world and digital data. Metaverse, blockchain technology. Concept of future and alternate reality. Credit: denisismagilov/Adobe Stock Virtual reality therapy helped 69% of injured workers in a study either decrease opioid use or drop them completely, according to Harvard Medtech. (Credit: denisismagilov/Adobe Stock)

Virtual reality has long been touted as the next big thing in video gaming and social networking, but the history of VR is littered with ideas that failed to gain traction from Nintendo’s crimson-everything Virtual Boy console to the reportedly abrupt end to Meta’s namesake Metaverse project.

While VR has failed to gain widespread adoption in the consumer electronics market, the technology shows great potential for helping injured workers reduce or eliminate the need for prescription painkillers, ease anxiety and depression, improve sleep and speed up recovery, according to Gerry Stanley, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer for Harvard Medtech.

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Steve Hallo

Steve Hallo

Steve Hallo is managing editor of PropertyCasualty360.com. He can be reached at [email protected].  

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