Crushing chronic pain, superhero style

We’ve all heard of the Incredible Hulk, the green-skinned, muscular superhero with limitless strength and highly flexible shorts. Researchers at the University of South Australia are exploring how superhero-like avatars can help people manage chronic and persistent pain, using virtual reality.

Can you rewire your body’s pain response by virtually assume the Hulk’s persona and power?

UNiSA’s new Superhero Therapy engages patients in VR, where they ‘swap’ their body with that of a superhero, to convince the brain and nervous system that their body is invincible, healed and no longer in pain.

In Australia, one in five people struggle with chronic pain. While management strategies for chronic pain may help, there’s no cure and further innovations are needed.

Lead researcher and 2023 SA Young Tall Poppy of Science, Dr Daniel Harvie, says mixing brain science with virtual reality could help solve persistent pain.

VR and pain

‘Pain is usually triggered by an injury, but in some people, it hangs around even after the body is healed,’ said Dr Harvie.

‘Now, instead of just treating the site of pain in your body, we know that we may also need to re-train the nervous system.

‘Using VR Superhero Therapy, people debilitated by pain can “swap” their real body for a superhero’s, such as the Incredible Hulk. In doing so, a person with chronic pain, who feels weak and vulnerable, can literally see, and experience themselves as a super strong, muscular character.

‘The visual synchronisation of virtual and real bodies triggers an update of the users’ brain-held representations: from those aligned with injury (which are pain promoting) to those consistent with a resilient body (which are pain suppressing),’ he said.

‘Remarkably, people immediately feel stronger, agile, and more resilient.’

Practice makes perfect

While the research is ongoing, initial results from UNiSA’s research shows that when people enter a world of digital reality, their minds are immediately taken off their symptoms and their pain tends to drop.

It also seems that just like practicing any skill, the more you do it, the better you become.

‘We are at a historical juncture in the way pain is managed,’ said Dr Harvie.

‘Virtual reality is an amazing, brain targeting, perception-altering tool that can be used to train the nervous system and address some of the challenges for people with chronic pain,’ he said.

‘It won’t be too long before we see VR in physio and occupational therapy clinics as a core part of everyday management of people with pain.’

Check out a short YouTube video about the project below: