Healthy Living: Virtual Reality Pain Management

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nearly 50 million Americans live with chronic pain, and many take opioids to deal with it.

Now a new weapon in the fight against pain has some reaching for a virtual reality headset instead of the pill bottle.

Breakthrough therapy tracked post-surgical patients in the program for one year and found that the cost of care was reduced by 45%, which meant fewer pain medications and fewer ER visits.

The developers of the VR therapy hope to make it part of a physical therapy regimen in centers around the country.

Today’s Healthy Living explains how VR therapy works in greater detail.