{"id":8810,"date":"2016-12-16T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=8810"},"modified":"2016-12-11T15:22:40","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T20:22:40","slug":"pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html","title":{"rendered":"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8807\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"clouds-1845517_1920\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>What if there was a way to reduce pain and the use of narcotics? What if you could go through child birth without an epidural and work through the pain? Sign me up!<\/p>\n<p>Virtual reality (VR) might be an answer. Just talk to\u00a0Erin Martucci. She is believed to be the first woman to use\u00a0VR for pain management during childbirth.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how it worked. Erin\u00a0was motivated to try an approach that was medication free.\u00a0Her\u00a0contractions were\u00a0beginning and before the\u00a0pain started to intensify, Erin was immersed in \u00a0a scene created by VR.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of trying to\u00a0imagine a beautiful sunset over the ocean waves, birds flying in the air, a waterfall and stars in the sky,\u00a0the goggles\u00a0provided the\u00a0view.<\/p>\n<p>For Erin, a \u00a0preprogrammed beach scene in her VR\u00a0headset helped her\u00a0focus on breathing and relaxing during labor. With a physician monitoring the contractions, Erin was able to work through the pain using the head set until the baby was about to crown. At that point, she was instructed to take off the goggles and start to push.<\/p>\n<p>Other applications of VR for\u00a0manage pain are currently being tested.\u00a0So far, results are\u00a0promising. With 32% of US births in 2015 due to scheduled C sections, maybe it is time to think alternatively\u00a0and use VR in more clinical applications.<\/p>\n<p>Bring me the headsets. While I am past child birthing age, I could use those goggles for my\u00a0next dental visit.\u00a0Forget the shots! A beach, a relaxing voice and\u00a0nature&#8217;s beauty sound inviting\u00a0to me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if there was a way to reduce pain and the use of narcotics? What if you could go through child birth without an epidural and work through the pain? Sign me up! Virtual reality (VR) might be an answer. Just talk to\u00a0Erin Martucci. She is believed to be the first woman to use\u00a0VR for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[3687,1173,2072,3688,3689,3690],"class_list":["post-8810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-narcotics","tag-pain","tag-pain-management","tag-virtual-reality","tag-vr","tag-vr-and-pain-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What if there was a way to reduce pain and the use of narcotics? What if you could go through child birth without an epidural and work through the pain? Sign me up! Virtual reality (VR) might be an answer. Just talk to\u00a0Erin Martucci. She is believed to be the first woman to use\u00a0VR for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-16T11:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-11T20:22:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?","og_description":"What if there was a way to reduce pain and the use of narcotics? What if you could go through child birth without an epidural and work through the pain? Sign me up! Virtual reality (VR) might be an answer. Just talk to\u00a0Erin Martucci. She is believed to be the first woman to use\u00a0VR for&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2016-12-16T11:00:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-11T20:22:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html","name":"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-16T11:00:32+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-11T20:22:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/clouds-1845517_1920-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/pain-management-using-virtual-reality-vr.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pain Management Using Virtual Reality (VR)?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8812,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810\/revisions\/8812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}