Remote Treatment System of Phantom Limb Pain by Displaying Body Movement in Shared VR Space

Abstract

The phenomenon that amputees feel pain at the position of their lost limb is called phantom limb pain. Although the cause of phantom limb pain has not yet been medically elucidated, several hypotheses have been established from past studies, and some treatment systems of phantom limb pain have been developed based on these hypotheses. In these treatments, the instructions of the therapist who is familiar with phantom limb pain are essential. However, there is a problem that the number of therapists is insufficient and that existing treatment systems require the therapist to be next to the patient. In order to solve this problem, realizing remote treatment is expected. Therefore, in this research, we propose a phantom limb pain remote treatment system in which a therapist can give instructions by presenting not only voice information but also body movements to a remote patient in a shared VR space. In this study, we conducted a user study to investigate the difference between the case where the therapist gives instructions to the patient in the same place and the case where the therapist gives the patient instructions remotely by using our system. As a result, it was suggested that our proposed system would improve the efficiency of movement transmission. This study is thought to solve the problem of insufficiency of therapists for phantom limb pain.