2025/06/24 by Todd Maddox, Josh Sackman, Matthew Stoudt +6 · 1 voice
Medicine · Neuroscience · #Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation #Pain Management and Placebo Effect #Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology
paper · pdf · doi:10.3389/frvir.2025.1613188
openalex publication_date 2025/06/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Chronic lower back pain (cLBP) is the most prevalent pain condition globally. Pain education and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) are one of many recommended front-line treatments, but access is poor due to barriers such as few trained and available local therapists, health insurance limits, and burdens associated with travel and treatment time. Immersive therapeutics, such as virtual reality-delivered therapy, might provide an effective, low-risk, and accessible cLBP treatment. This manuscript describes the path followed to develop, obtain FDA-authorization for, and commercially launch a Virtual Reality-Delivered Skills-Based therapy for cLBP, called RelieVRx ® . We detail the iterative path to design, develop and validate this immersive therapeutic medical device and the process followed to obtain FDA-authorization. We briefly summarize the results from over 30 publications that empirically test iterations of the VR-delivered therapy. Key lessons for translating innovation from the laboratory into the commercial market are identified, including commercial launch, reimbursement strategy, and clinical implementation in the home. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT05263037.