Many medical procedures produce acute pain that in most cases is quite disturbing for the individual.
Medication is the treatment of choice for acute pain. However, given the involvement of psychological aspects
in the experience of pain, psychological techniques are being used as an effective adjunct to alleviate pain
related to medical procedures. In the last years a new technology is demonstrating an enormous potential in
this field: Virtual Reality (VR) distraction. In this article we review studies that explore the efficacy of immersive
VR distraction in reducing pain related to different medical procedures. We include clinical studies and
analogue studies with healthy participants. We discuss the results achieved by these studies and recommend
future directions of VR pain control research
