New Technologies Work
Which serious burn victims get
more pain relief while their
bandages are changed: those
on morphine or those fully
immersed in a 3D skiing adventure
computer game? Over and over,
controlled experiments show that
subjects in “fully immersive”
virtual reality environments feel
less pain than their counterparts
who get conventional drug-based
pain treatment. One in five
Canadians experiences chronic
pain, yet on average, they wait
from two to five years before they
are able to see a pain specialist.

Dr. Gromala knows — she herself
suffers from long term, chronic
pain. As Canada Research Chair in
Multi-disciplinary and Multimedia
Arts, Dr. Gromala will devote much
of her research to understand
how virtual reality goggles and
headsets relieve feelings of pain
and how in some cases, work
better than well-known pain-killing
medicines like opiates. She is
also working on building better
computerized aids to help patients
through biofeedback meditation
and visualization therapy. Her
goal is to explore new ways to
use computer technologies that

will help people improve their
own health outcomes through
education, experience and
self-expression.

The Team
Working with doctors, computer
scientists, anthropologists
and historians of medicine, Dr.
Gromala is developing new
computerized therapies. The
therapies promise sufferers ways
to express, visualize and keep
track of their pain and of their
caregivers. In addition, the
computerized therapies give
people in chronic pain ways to

while they wait for treatment by
specialists. As Canada’s baby
boomers enter old age, pain and
pain management looms as a huge
public health issue. In addition,
Canada has welcomed people who
come here from many different
cultures. Dr. Gromala is planning
to draw on the rich, historical
knowledge of these cultures,
and marry them with computer
technologies where it is sensible
to do so. Dr. Gromala’s research
will give us tools to manage and
control pain in new and extremely
effective ways.