Virtual Reality Distraction for Anxiety Reduction During Trigger Points Procedures in Pain Medicine Clinic

trigger points can cause a wide range of pain symptoms; pain in the anterior shoulder and
down the arm, headache pain, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, frozen shoulder pain, and other
symptoms. Local anesthetic injections and lidocaine injections are common "wet" needling
treatments for trigger points injections. The proposed mechanism by which trigger points
injections alleviate pain is based on mechanical disruption of the taut bands of muscle with
palpation based needling. During injections, patients may feel an intensified pain and a
twitch response.

Distraction has been proved to be an effective tool in pain management, and it can also be
used for a variety of medical procedures. By engaging in assigned tasks, pain and anxiety are
assumed to be lessened throughout the procedure, while leaving patients less occupied by pain
stimuli. . An immersive virtual environment may be preferable to medications such as
sedatives, due to side effects and prolonged discharge from procedure suite. Occasionally,
medications may not even be available in a busy interventional pain suite. At the UCD pain
clinic, we do not offer sedating medications for bedside procedures like trigger point
injections. By wearing VR headset, patients may feel less tense, anxious, and painful during
trigger point injections.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients aged over 18 years old, who are referred to UC Davis Pain Medicine Clinic and
are candidates for trigger point injections, are English speaking and can understand
oral and written instructions

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients who have high risk of motion sickness, seizure disorder, visual/hearing
impairment, prisoners or are pregnant are not eligible for this study.