Recent health research found that virtual reality (VR) exercise sessions can be just as effective as Telehealth consultations for providing short-term pain relief to women with endometriosis.
About 10% of women in their reproductive years are affected by endometriosis.
Although pain therapy typically involves both surgical and pharmaceutical treatments, many women are now more interested in the benefits of exercise for reducing their pain.
There were barriers to face-to-face exercise for Australians. Dr Joyce Ramos (Exercise Physiologist and Senior Lecturer in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences), along with colleagues from Flinders University, investigated the benefits of self-managed exercises delivered through VR technology.
Twenty-two Australian women suffering from endometriosis were divided into three groups for the study: a VR exercise group, a telehealth exercise group, and a control group. Their pelvic discomfort was measured using the visual analogue scales (VAS).
The findings reveal that pain increases reported by virtual reality and telehealth participants may be less severe than those experienced by the control group, implying that both digital health treatments may lower pelvic pain experienced by women diagnosed with endometriosis.
Dr Joyce Ramos is a Senior Lecturer in Exercise Biology and Research Author. This trial examines the potential benefits of a single telemedicine consultation, and VR-delivered, exercise session on pelvic discomfort in women with mild-to-moderate endometriosis.
‘Our findings imply that a single bout of self-managed’ VR-delivered exercise may be as beneficial as a single session of supervised Telehealth-delivered exercise in giving rapid relief from endometriosis-related pelvic discomfort,’ adds Dr Ramos.
‘These findings are similar to a recent study that found that a 10-to-20-minute VR session might relieve pain in patients with chronic pain and endometriosis. According to earlier study findings, the VR group saw a 36.7% drop in global pain levels during the intervention period when compared to the control group.
However, in our investigation, there was no statistically significant difference in pain levels across all three groups. ‘However, this pilot trial provides significant information on the prospective advantages of these digital health treatments, as well as the possibility of a bigger and more expensive full-scale study examining future treatment alternatives,’ says the author. Dr Ramos says.
“The availability of an effective self-managed digital health solution is especially vital for persons who lead busy lives or reside in rural or isolated places with limited access to synchronised healthcare.
“The availability of an effective self-managed digital health solution is especially vital for persons who lead busy lives or reside in rural or isolated places with limited access to synchronised healthcare.