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After a horrific fall from a roof, Bob Jester needed opioids to get through the day. Then he found something better than pills: the pain-fighting power of VR.

In the time it takes to tumble off a roof, Bob Jester’s life took a calamitous turn. A professional chimney sweep, Jester had spent decades working at a job that involved climbing onto high, steep rooftops. Given the obvious danger, he’d always been a stickler about safety. Then one August day in 2016, he made a slight blunder, and that’s all it took. An instant later, he fell 18 feet and broke 19 bones. Surgeons used metal rods and bolts to cobble together his fractured vertebrae. But despite the repairs, he was left with partial disability and intense chronic pain that he treated with opioids.

“Laid out before him was a dreamscape of images far more dazzling than anything on TV. In fact, virtual reality is to television what television is to daguerreotypes.”

Fortunately, this chimney sweep had also worked for 39 years as a high school science teacher. So when he looked for ways to reduce his suffering, guess which method he used? The scientific method. It became Jester’s road map, and his body became his laboratory. Harnessing the same spirit of experimentation that he’d taught to his students, he hit upon a revelatory finding little known beyond the pages of obscure medical journals.

His eureka moment happened while he was wearing a virtual-reality headset, which looks like futuristic ski goggles. But it’s what Jester saw inside those goggles that made all the difference. Laid out before him was a dreamscape of images far more dazzling than anything on TV. In fact, virtual reality is to television what television is to daguerreotypes. No matter how skillful the camerawork, even the best TV documentary about dolphins still boils down to two-dimensional, miniaturized animals moving across on a flat screen. You’d never mistake it for the real thing.

Watch a similar scene through VR googles, by contrast, and you’ll suddenly be surrounded by three-dimensional, life-size dolphins swirling around you, above you, and below you. It’s as if you’re actually there with Flipper and his friends in the ocean. Virtual dolphins look so palpably real that you’ll want to reach out and hand them a virtual fish.

For Jester, the effect of VR wasn’t just entertaining. It was transfixing. Whenever he had a flare-up, he’d pop on his VR headset and suddenly find himself swimming with dolphins. Or flying with the Wright Brothers. Or petting a virtual farm animal. Or wandering the ruins of Machu Picchu. The VR imagery transported him to a world so engrossing that his pain faded into the background. Over time, by gradually substituting VR for painkillers, he actually weaned himself off opioids.

For years, pain scientists have been amassing a growing body of research data about VR. Their findings confirm that it significantly eases all sorts of acute and chronic pain, ranging from low back pain to phantom limb pain. When cancer patients use VR, chemo infusions seem to go faster. VR even reduces the almost-criminal torment endured by burn victims during wound-dressing changes. One recent study even found that virtual reality was twice as effective as morphine at lowering pain. And unlike opioids, VR spares pain patients the indignity of having to beg their doctors for a prescription.

Thus far, the best evidence of VR’s pain-relieving effect comes from studies that monitored people’s pain levels while they were wearing the goggles. But there’s also anecdotal evidence of lingering benefits even after the goggles come off. That’s certainly been the case for Jester.

Until recently, the gadgetry was so costly and cumbersome that it just wasn’t ready for prime time. But like most things high tech, VR is rapidly becoming better, smaller, and more affordable. It’s now within the price range of an average consumer.

When I recently spoke with Jester about how he’s used VR to manage his pain, that’s what I thought we’d mainly talk about. But he turned out to be the kind of science teacher we all wish we could have had. Witty. Generous. And resourceful. Because of that last trait, VR turned out to be just one item in what he calls his pain-fighting toolbox.

Which is why he and I go rummaging around to see what else he’s got stashed in there. It turns out to be an amazing trove. If you’ve come for the virtual reality, don’t worry; he and I take a deep dive into that topic. But we also explore a bunch of other strategies and resources that have helped him deal with the most grueling physical challenge of his life.

Not every item in Jester’s toolbox will necessarily work for you. But like looking through a pair of virtual-reality goggles, they’ll definitely expand your imagination and widen your vision of what’s possible.

Today, Jester talks about:

•  The mistake that caused him to fall off a roof

•  The severity of his injuries

•  How he used virtual reality to get off opioids

•  His never-fail tool for accepting his pain

•  Why he spends three to five hours a day exercising

•  Other key resources and strategies he’s relied on to help him heal

Interviewee:

Bob Jester is a retired high school science teacher, professional chimney sweep, and lifelong member of his local volunteer fire department.

Straight from the lab:

Wondering if virtual reality might help ease chronic pain? Scientists have been exploring that same question. Check out this sampling of their research to date:

•  “Virtual Reality as an Analgesic for Acute and Chronic Pain in Adults: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Pain Research, 2019.

•  “Efficacy of Virtual Reality to Reduce Chronic Low Back Pain: Proof-of-Concept of a Nonpharmacological Approach on Pain, Quality of Life, Neuropsychological and Functional Outcome,” PLOS ONE, 2019.

•  “Virtual Reality Enhances Gait in Cerebral Palsy: A Training Dose-Response Meta-Analysis,” Frontiers in Neurology, 2019.

•  “Neuroscience of Virtual Reality: From Virtual Exposure to Embodied Medicine,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 2019.

•  “Virtual Reality Distraction During Endoscopic Urology Surgery under Spinal Anesthesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2018.

•  “Clinical Trial of the Virtual Integration Environment to Treat Phantom Limb Pain with Upper Extremity Amputation,” Frontiers in Neurology, 2018.

•  “Immersive Low-Cost Virtual Reality Treatment for Phantom Limb Pain: Evidence from Two Cases,” Frontiers in Neurology, 2018.

•  “Assessing the Feasibility of Implementing Low-Cost Virtual Reality Therapy During Routine Burn Care,” Burns, 2018.

•  “The Impact of Virtual Reality on Chronic Pain,” PLOS ONE, 2016.

Explore the show notes for this episode at: https://painopolis.com/virtual-reality-eases-chronic-pain/

Music:

Our theme music is “Gentle Storm,” composed and performed by Betsy Tinney (betsytinney.com).

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