Hospital Tries to Help Burn Victims With Videogames

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Hospital Tries to Help Burn Victims With Videogames

Pain experts have theorized that immersing burn victims in a virtual world might help their recovery.

The Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas - a pediactric hospital specializing in burn care - is investigating whether or not videogames can help ease the pain of rehabilitative treatment for its patients. These efforts are part of an ongoing study [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88051-Snow-World-Helps-Soothe-Soldiers-Pain], which has also included soldiers returning from Iraq.

As burns heal, the area can tighten, which in turn limits the patients mobility. Special exercises can help with keeping the skin and muscles more flexible, but patients often report a lot of pain associated with the treatment. This is where David R. Patterson and Hunter Hoffman - a pain expert and director of the Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center at the University of Washington, respectively - come in. They theorized that the introduction of a virtual reality world might help patients manage the pain more easily.

The game they created, called SnowWorld, is different from a standard videogame. It's not got much in the way of traditional gameplay elements, nor does it have a lot of characters to interact with. Instead, SnowWorld is designed to be a calming and immersive experience that gives patients something to focus on other than the treatment itself.

The initial reports from the Shriners Hospital suggest that patients who have had SnowWorld incorporated into their treatment report less pain than before, and many began enjoying therapy sessions more than they had previously. The researchers are hoping to find that the use of SnowWorld results in more successful sessions, and therefore, greater mobility for patients.

Source: Galveston Daily News [http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a9090dd1743a085b] via Game Politics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/12/27/how-video-games-may-help-burn-victims-cope-painful-therapy]



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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Don't let them go getting immersed God of War.

Searing chains that burst into flame at the end of the blade burned into your wrists isn't the best idea for burn victims.
 

drbarno

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Nov 18, 2009
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Is it wrong that I saw it as Hospital tries helping burn videogames into victims?

But anyway, seems like agood idea, but might need more research before it could be fully developed and tried in hospitals
 

megs1120

Wing Commander
Jul 27, 2009
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I wonder how it's played. I can't imagine a mouse, keyboard or controller would be particularly comfortable.
 

Impluse_101

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Jun 25, 2009
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Well I'm all for the recovery of people who don't diserve what happend to them, and its kinda nifty it's gonna be helped along by using video games.

As for how its played, I'm sure they take something into account with their burn victims and them actually being able to play that.
 

The Red Spy

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Dec 1, 2009
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World of Snowcraft, don't let Blizzard get hold of this.

It's a feel-good game like Flower is seen as on the PS3, just with the association of cold and cooling imagery. Nice idea.
 

moretimethansense

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Apr 10, 2008
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Iread that as though they were using games as fuel, I'm somehow dissapointed >_>

Anyway while this is kinda cool you just know that no one will ever hear about it, Games helping people? preposterous!

People won't give up their scapgoat so easily.
 

XT inc

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Jul 29, 2009
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I could not begin to estimate the pain of having burns over a large part of my body, I mean we all know what the little burns feel like, from when you touch a stove or something, I would be way to optimistic to say that playing a game while trying to move burnt joints so they dont seize would distract you enough from that kind of hell.
 

SantoUno

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Aug 13, 2009
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Secret world leader (shhh) said:
I read the title as "hosptial tries to burn victims with videogames."

Sounds like a brilliant idea, I'm suprised nobody thought of it before now.
So did I, seemed as if the hospital were trying to help arsonists literally burn victims with video games.

I can somewhat understand the psychological reasoning for making a game based on cold weather, but I think that might just remind the burn victims even more that they were burned.

It's as if someone is permanently handicapped from an undeployed parachute and then they are handed a Tony Hawk game, as if to say, "Check it out! Now you can live your maximum mobility fantasies IN GAME! Because you will never walk again IN REAL LIFE!"
 
Jun 7, 2010
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SantoUno said:
Secret world leader (shhh) said:
I read the title as "hosptial tries to burn victims with videogames."

Sounds like a brilliant idea, I'm suprised nobody thought of it before now.
So did I, seemed as if the hospital were trying to help arsonists literally burn victims with video games.

I can somewhat understand the psychological reasoning for making a game based on cold weather, but I think that might just remind the burn victims even more that they were burned.

It's as if someone is permanently handicapped from an undeployed parachute and then they are handed a Tony Hawk game, as if to say, "Check it out! Now you can live your maximum mobility fantasies IN GAME! Because you will never walk again IN REAL LIFE!"
I sort of agree with you, but still, it's better than regular treatment.
 

AssassinJoe

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Oct 1, 2010
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HankMan said:
This game looks pretty cool!
I hope the console doesn't freeze up on them!
Oh man, the camera keeps drifting!

Why? because laughter is the best medicine!
Not when you are telling the jokes!