AURORA, Colo. — Over the past few years, Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) has been increasing its use of virtual reality (VR) during patient procedures.
The hospital's Gaming Technology Department oversees the implementation of gaming and VR into procedures that might be scary or painful to their young patients.
"We basically get to use different technologies like video games, virtual reality, robotics, printing, to help kids in various ways at the hospital. That includes things like recreational play, developing custom adaptive solutions using 3D printing, as well as developing custom VR games for different use cases and using them for procedure support like Jackson," Abe Homer, gaming technology supervisor at Children's Colorado, said.
Jackson Zagel is one patient using VR to make his monthly IV transfusions a bit easier.
Jackson has spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder that weakens muscles throughout the body and can shorten life expectancy. The IV transfusions are uncomfortable, at best, but important. The transfusions help Jackson's muscles fight atrophy.
"While they're poking me, I play this game. It's called 'Rush' on VR," Jackson said. "You are paragliding down these really cool terrains, like valleys or snowy mountains."
The VR headset allows Jackson to play using only his head, while medical staff insert the IV into Jackson's hand. Before the introduction of VR to his procedures, Jackson's mom, Sarah Christensen, remembers how tough these appointments could be for her son.
"It was very regimented, lots of deep breaths, lots of relaxation techniques. There's a lot of effort for all of us," Christensen said.
But now, Jackson hardly notices the pain thanks to a phenomenon in the brain. Homer and his team leverage this phenomenon to help kids like Jackson.
"Super sensory proprioception is a really fascinating neurological phenomenon that happens during virtual reality," Homer said. "With VR, your brain hasn't developed to accept two realities at the same time. So when you put on a VR headset, your brain is so taxed by the visual and auditory inputs from the experience that it starts to convince your physiology that you're in a place that you're not actually in. You're not feeling sensations that you're feeling in the real world, i.e., pain. So, your brain is actually incapable of feeling the same amount of pain signals in VR than outside of VR."
It's a real-life procedure made a bit easier by virtual reality.
"VR not only helps relax kids and mitigates their pain, but it's really fun and it changes the narrative of the procedure. Right, Jackson?" said Homer.
"Oh yeah. I totally agree," replied Jackson.
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