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It is estimated that 28 million people in the UK suffer from some form of Chronic Pain. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a poorly understood condition in which a person experiences persistent severe and debilitating pain. The impact on Claimants suffering with this condition can be devastating.
John M Snell a Barrister at Guildhall Chambers Bristol in his article C.R.P.S – all in the mind writes “Chronic pain not only arises in many guises and with different degrees of severity, but from an infinite variety of different originating causes. Many will have come across the scenario where a minor soft tissue injury to the spine has apparently produced chronic back pain. Fewer will have encountered the situation where the loss of a finger tip has left the claimant wheel-chair bound. The orthopaedic experts may have shrugged their shoulders and the psychiatrists may have diagnosed no psychiatric condition.”
What is certain is that Claimant’s suffering with the condition and medico legal experts who have diagnosed the condition are limited with effective treatment options.
CaltainVR Working alongside the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Team, one of the World's leading treatment teams has developed groundbreaking virtual reality software to assist patients suffering from CRPS.
Evidence shows people's sensory and motor systems are adaptive mechanisms, and that in many musculoskeletal disorders such as Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis patients suffer from Chronic Pain. These systems can become hyper-adaptive, leading to altered body perceptions, increased pain and pain-sensitivity. Working with patients with CRPS who commonly present with these characteristics, the aim is to understand these abnormal sensory perceptions.
Currently undergoing medical trialing in the NHS it is hoped that the virtual reality solution may help sufferers of chronic pain conditions. As Virtual Reality is so immersive there is a potential to create controlled real life scenarios and environments to gain a better understanding of how our senses can manipulate how pain is perceived.
Dan Paintain one of the developers of the software, himself a sufferer of CRPS explains “Imagine if you suffered from a chronic pain condition, for example, in your right arm. You would probably perceive the world like a wounded animal. Protecting your arm from danger as any knock or bump would increase the pain. When something unexpected happens near your painful limb you are likely to react defensively and have your senses heightened maybe even enough that it gives you an adrenalin hit. This would in turn increase your pain. Chronic pain sufferers may be going through their day to day life without even realising that they are reacting this way to everyday normal unexpected incidents that normally in a healthy person would not create such a response. The pain increases throughout the day and they may have no idea why.”
The Virtual Reality programs encompass a measurement and rehabilitation package. The package when finalised would involve a two week therapy program covering occupational therapy, hyrdotherapy, physiotherapy and psychology. As part of the VR program the therapist can place the patient in a virtual world that is safe with no real threat. The therapist can then recreate those unexpected events utilising a graded exposure. This will ultimately give the patient a better understanding on how their senses affect their perception of pain.
Medical Reports Ltd is investigating how this treatment when aligned to other complementary rehabilitative treatments could be utilised by Claimants and Defendants in the medico legal Sector to provide innovative treatment packages to claimants suffering from CRPS.
It is hoped that once medical trials are complete the measurement and therapy programs can be applied to all chronic pain sufferers to assist them to deal with chronic pain on a day to day basis.
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