News
Integrated Medicine Techniques Can Reduce Pain Intensity for Children With Acute and Chronic Pain
June 20, 2025 | By Wendy Wolfson | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
Integrated medicine effectively – and cost-effectively – helps kids through routine medical procedures.
Multiple studies have shown that integrative medicine techniques like virtual reality can lower pain intensity and anxiety for both acute and chronic pain. They can improve children’s mental health, sleep, and blood pressure as well. Integrative medicine treats children's minds, bodies, and spirits as inseparable from their physical and mental health, to reduce the distress and symptoms of illness while eliminating unnecessary medication, emergency visits, hospitalization, and readmissions. ..
The VR Technologist Will See You Now
December 5, 2024 | By Caitlin Kryl | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
A new member of CHLA’s pioneering Interventional Radiology team uses virtual reality to transform minimally invasive procedures for patients and clinicians.
If your heart rate increases each time you hear the word “injection,” you’re not alone. Every 1 in 4 adults has a fear of needles – a fear that most attribute to an experience they had when they were children.
For kids who visit the hospital frequently, anxiety around even routine procedures might interfere with each visit and even lead to long-term trauma…
So Long, Needle-Phobia: Researchers Explore How Immersive Tech Helps Reduce Pain, Anxiety in Kids
July 23, 2024 | By Caitlin Kryl | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
CHLA scientists test VR and AR solutions to ease needle anxiety and reduce sedation for routine medical procedures.
It’s a health care tale as old as time: needle-based procedures can be just plain scary, no matter what age you are.
For kids with chronic conditions who visit the hospital multiple times per month, anxiety around these procedures might interfere with each visit. Ultimately, negative medical experiences can compound adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) which may lead to poor healthcare treatment adherence and worse health outcomes throughout life…
Research Trainee Spotlight: Cristal Lopez, PhD
February 8, 2024 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
Dr. Lopez is investigating the impact of integrative medicine on children with acute or chronic pain.
Can acupuncture, yoga, massage, biofeedback and mindfulness help children manage their pain? That is just one of the questions that Cristal Lopez, PhD, aims to answer.
A Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biobehavioral Pain Lab, which is led by Jeffrey Gold, PhD, Dr. Lopez is evaluating integrative medicine approaches for children with acute or chronic pain. But her research also has another dimension…
I Feel Better! Doc McStuffins Virtual Reality Helps to Relieve Anxiety in Children Undergoing Surgery
November 17, 2021 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Disney Junior collaborate to create an interactive experience.
Virtual reality is not a new technology, but investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are using it in new ways to change how children experience healthcare. In a special collaboration with Disney Junior, CHLA doctors and scientists developed an interactive virtual reality experience featuring popular television character Doc McStuffins. In a recent study, the experience – called Doc McStuffins: Doctor for a Day (DocVR) reduced fear in children facing surgery…
A Game Changer: Virtual Reality Reduces Pain and Anxiety in Children
August 25, 2021 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
A study at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shows that engaging in VR can reduce pain and anxiety in children undergoing painful medical procedures and reduce the need for anesthesia.
It isn’t a matter of one needle puncture. Many children coming through the doors of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are seen for chronic conditions and often require frequent visits. Painful procedures – like a blood draw or catheter placement – can cause anxiety and fear in patients. Now, a study published in JAMA Network Open shows that virtual reality can decrease pain and anxiety in children undergoing intravenous (IV) catheter placement…
Can Virtual Reality Help Children Undergoing Urologic Procedures?
February 18, 2020 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
A new clinical trial at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will study patients as young as 5 who are undergoing VCUG exams.
A new clinical trial at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is investigating whether virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality can reduce pain and anxiety in children undergoing urologic catheterization procedures…
Pain Medicine Clinic Provides Relief for Kids
June 20, 2019 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog
Unlike when we have the flu or a broken bone, it’s not always visible when pain keeps us from feeling our best. And when pain is chronic, it can have devastating effects on personal relationships, mood, behaviors and sleep habits. At the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic, children and adolescents with chronic pain have a chance to find relief through massage, acupuncture and more traditional therapies, such as psychotherapy and biofeedback. From patients recovering from surgery to those with fibromyalgia, this clinic helps them return to their daily life…
Virtual Reality As Therapy for Pain
April 29, 2019 | By Jane E. Brody | The New York Times
It’s more than a distraction, researchers say. It’s more like a brain hack that occupies the brain so fully that it has no room to process pain sensations at the same time.
I was packing up at the end of a family vacation in Florida when my back went into an excruciating spasm unrelieved by a fistful of pain medication. As my twin sons, then 8 years old, wheeled me through the airport, one of them suggested, “Mom, if you think about something else, it won’t hurt so much.”
At the time, I failed to appreciate the wisdom of his advice. Now, four decades later, a sophisticated distraction technique is being used to help patients of all ages cope with pain, both acute and chronic…
Self-Care for the Modern Age
October 10, 2018 | By Rachael Zimlich, RN, BSN | Dermatology Times
Mindfulness and relaxation are key for heading off burnout and exhaustion.
Stress is insidious. It creeps in when we aren’t careful, wreaking havoc physically, emotionally, on our relationships, and our careers.
While there are many stressful careers, working in healthcare can cause a particularly high level of stress. A study in The Lancet estimated that roughly half of physicians experience burnout, roughly a quarter suffer from emotional exhaustion, and another third struggle with depersonalization…
Virtual Reality Is Being Used by Hospitals to Help People Cope With Pain
June 9, 2018 | By Meeri Kim | The Washington Post
Despite being in and out of hospitals since the age of 16, one of Harmon Clarke’s biggest fears is having an intravenous line inserted into his arm. The 34-year-old resident of Los Angeles has had more than 30 surgeries related to his Crohn’s disease, but getting stuck with an IV needle has never gotten less stressful…
Heathcare Treatment, Training Reaches New Heights With VR
February 2, 2018 | By Alan Joch | HealthTech
Providers and patients benefit from emergency simulations and pain management.
Decisions that emergency staff at a hospital make in the first 20 minutes of a patient’s arrival can mean the difference between life and death; because of this, consistently sharpening the emergency skills of doctors and nurses is crucial…
VR Gaming as a Tool for Pain Relief
January 29, 2018 | By Rosemary Black | Practical Pain Management
In the effort to find new and effective nonpharmacological treatments for chronic pain, virtual reality and gaming continue to add options to the practitioner’s evolving toolbox. Such technologies have proven effective in relieving certain acute and procedural pains, and they may soon have application for chronic pain conditions as well…
Can Virtual Reality Be Used to Manage Pain at a Pediatric Hospital?
November 7, 2017 | Digital Health News
Virtual reality has emerged into popular culture with an ever-widening array of applications including clinical use in a pediatric healthcare center. Children undergo necessary yet painful and distressing medical procedures every day, but very few non-pharmaceutical interventions have been found to successfully manage the pain and anxiety associated with these procedures. Investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have conducted a study to determine if virtual reality (VR) can be effectively used for pain management during blood draw. Their findings showed that VR significantly reduced patients' and parents' perception of acute pain, anxiety and general distress during the procedure. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology…
Enlisting Virtual Reality to Ease Real Pain
July 24, 2017 | By Lucette Lagnado | The Wall Street Journal
Putting on VR goggles and virtually swimming with dolphins can ease some patients’ pain, new research shows. Hospitals across the country are giving VR a try.
In a Los Angeles hospital a short drive from Hollywood, some patients are tapping into virtual reality. But at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 3D technology is there not for entertainment but pain relief…
Virtual Reality May Be a New, Cheaper Weapon in the War on Pain
December 29, 2016 | By Cynthia McKelvey | Polygon News
The best treatment for pain may not be a new drug, but a technology that’s seeing more investment and advancement due to its use in gaming.
Physicians and researchers have been experimenting with using virtual reality as a way to reduce pain for years, but the recent increase in the hardware’s quality, matched by the rapid decrease in price, suddenly makes VR pain control a much more exciting option…
Swedish Clinics Use Virtual Reality to Reduce the Sting of Shots
October 27, 2016 | By Ike Swetlitz | Fox News
“Hello, I am here to help you calm down. Here you are completely safe. Nothing bad can or will happen to you.” The voice emanates from nowhere in particular.
Birds chirp and butterflies flitter at the lakeside campsite. As night falls, a neon green sign buzzes alive, bearing the name of the pharmacy chain that is promoting this virtual reality experience across Sweden…
Screening for Mental Health Issues in a Pediatric Emergency Department
October 1, 2015 | Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blog; Science Daily
In a new study published in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care, investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles piloted a brief mental health screening tool to be used with patients accessing the emergency department for medical complaints who might be at risk for mental health problems. In the U. S., 1 in 10 children and adolescents suffer from mental illness, yet only 1 in 5 receives mental health services. Many undiagnosed mental health conditions can lead to chronic medical conditions that interfere with a child’s normal development and functioning…
Controlling Pain With Alternative Remedies
July 5, 2010 | By Jeannine Stein | Los Angeles Time
Beyond drugs, beyond exercise, beyond simply getting better are other ways to control pain. Typically referred to as complementary alternative medicine, many people consider their use to be common sense…
Expert: 3-D Games Can Help Ease Pain, Anxiety
May 12, 2010 | By Charlene Laino | CBS News
Three-dimensional virtual reality video games may prove to be the latest weapon in the fight against pain.
In a number of pilot studies, virtual reality (VR) has been shown to reduce the anxiety and pain associated with a variety of medical procedures and conditions, says Jeffrey I. Gold, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles…
Video Games Effective Pain Relievers, Researchers Say
May 7, 2010 | By News Staff | Scientific Blogging: Science 2.0
New research has found that video gaming is an effective way to reduce anxiety and acute pain caused by medical procedures and could be a useful treatment for chronic pain. The research was presented this week at the American Pain Society’s annual scientific meeting
“Virtual reality produces a modulating effect that is endogenous, so the analgesic influence is not simply a result of distraction but may also impact how the brain responds to painful stimuli,” said Jeffrey I. Gold, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics. “The focus is drawn to the game not the pain or the medical procedure, while the virtual reality experience engages visual and other senses…”