EN
Virtual reality is a computer-generated scenario in which the user can interact in 3 dimensions so that the user feels that he or she is part of the scene. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Pain is often undertreated and this comes along with several consequences such as anger, depression, anxiety, workplace absenteeism, underemployment, unemployment and fear, among others. In the past decade, there has been need to find a safer way of controlling chronic pain without the necessary complication of opioid misuse. Virtual reality has been proved to be a safer adjunct for this. Several studies have reported that virtual reality is quite effective for pain management, with participants reporting significant relief of symptoms. The discovery of the use of virtual reality in the management of pain may prove to be a breakthrough in pain medicine, saving people from the complications of prolonged opioid use and opioid misuse. However, more research still has to be done to fully establish the mechanism of action and use of virtual reality in pain management, especially in the management of chronic pain. This would be a true breakthrough, allowing the full safety and effectiveness of virtual reality to be harnessed.