Last reviewed: November 2026. This guide is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk to a qualified clinician about any treatment decision.
Virtual reality (VR) places a person inside a computer-generated environment, usually through a headset that blocks out the real room. In healthcare it is used in two broad ways: as a treatment or therapy tool for patients, and as a training tool for clinicians.
Key takeaways
- Strongest evidence: exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, and stroke rehabilitation when VR is added to usual therapy.
- Regulated products exist: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) keeps a public list of authorized AR and VR medical devices, including a prescription VR program for chronic lower back pain.
- Promising but early: surgical and procedural training, where trials are positive but small and mostly done on simulators.
- Common limits: small studies, headset discomfort and motion sickness for some users, and uneven evidence from one use to the next.
In this guide
How VR differs from AR and mixed reality
VR replaces what you see with a fully digital scene. Augmented reality (AR) keeps the real world in view and adds digital information on top of it, such as a scan overlaid on a patient during a procedure. Mixed reality sits between the two and lets digital objects respond to the physical room. Most patient-facing therapy uses VR; most operating-room guidance uses AR.
How regulators treat VR
In the United States, a VR product that claims to diagnose or treat a condition is regulated as a medical device. The FDA publishes a list of AR and VR medical devices it has authorized. According to an analysis by Exponent, that list had grown to 104 entries by early 2026, up from 39 at the end of 2022, with most devices cleared through the 510(k) pathway. The FDA notes that the list is not comprehensive.
General wellness apps and consumer headsets are a different category. A relaxation app on a consumer headset has not necessarily been reviewed by any regulator, so it is worth checking whether a product is an authorized medical device before relying on its health claims.
Pain management
VR is used for pain in two ways: as a distraction during short, painful procedures, and as a way to deliver skills-based behavioral therapy for chronic pain at home.
The best-known example of the second approach is EaseVRx (now sold as RelieVRx), which the FDA authorized in November 2021 as a prescription program for adults with chronic lower back pain. It delivers 56 short sessions over eight weeks, based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. In the 179-person randomized trial behind the decision, 66% of people using the program reported a pain reduction of more than 30%, compared with 41% in the control group. About one in five participants reported discomfort with the headset, and roughly one in ten reported motion sickness or nausea (HCPLive summary of the FDA decision).
Rehabilitation after stroke
Rehabilitation is one of the most studied uses of VR. A 2025 Cochrane review pooled 190 randomized trials with 7,188 stroke survivors. Its findings were measured rather than dramatic:
- Compared with conventional therapy of the same duration, VR gave a slight improvement in arm function, balance and everyday activity.
- The gains were larger when VR was added on top of usual care, which increased total therapy time.
- There was no meaningful effect on walking speed or quality of life.
- Side effects were few and mild.
The practical takeaway is that VR appears most useful as a way to get more therapy time, not as a replacement for a therapist. Many of the trials were small and used basic gaming systems, so the certainty of the evidence is low to moderate.
Mental health
Exposure therapy asks a person to face a feared situation gradually and safely. VR makes that easier to arrange: a therapist can recreate a flight, a height or a crowded room without leaving the clinic.
A 2019 meta-analysis of 30 randomized trials (1,057 participants) covering phobias, social anxiety, PTSD and panic disorder found that VR exposure therapy clearly outperformed waiting-list controls and performed about as well as real-life exposure. A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 trials (817 participants) looked only at more severe anxiety disorders, OCD and PTSD, and reached a similar conclusion: VR-based therapy was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy.
These results apply to VR used within a structured therapy program led by a trained professional. They do not show that using a consumer VR app alone treats an anxiety disorder.
Training clinicians
VR simulators let trainees rehearse a procedure repeatedly without risk to a patient. Early trials are encouraging. In a randomized trial at UCLA, 20 medical students learned a tibial nailing procedure either with a VR module or a standard written guide; the VR group completed 63% of the steps correctly, against 25% for the guide group. A second randomized trial of 25 students found that more of those trained with VR were able to complete the same procedure.
Both studies were small, involved novices, and tested performance on synthetic bone models. Whether VR training improves outcomes for real patients is still being studied.
Limits and open questions
- Study size and quality: many VR trials are small, short and hard to blind, which can inflate results.
- Tolerability: some people experience motion sickness, eye strain or headset discomfort.
- Access: hardware cost, staff training and fitting VR into clinical routines remain barriers.
- Uneven evidence: strong results in one area, such as exposure therapy, do not carry over automatically to other uses.
Questions to ask before using VR for a health purpose
- Is this product an authorized medical device, or a general wellness app?
- What published trials support it for my specific condition?
- Is it meant to be used alongside other treatment, and who supervises it?
- What side effects were reported, and who should avoid it?
Common questions
What is virtual reality used for in healthcare?
Mainly pain management, rehabilitation, mental health treatment and clinical training.
Where is the evidence for VR strongest?
Exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, and stroke rehabilitation when VR is added to usual therapy.
Are there authorized VR medical products?
Yes. The FDA keeps a public list of authorized AR and VR medical devices, including a prescription VR program for chronic lower back pain.
Sources
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Medical Devices.
- Exponent. FDA Expands AR/VR Medical Device List, February 2026.
- HCPLive. FDA Approves Virtual Reality Platform for Chronic Pain Reduction, November 2021.
- Laver KE, et al. Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2025.
- Carl E, et al. Virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety and related disorders: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2019.
- van Loenen I, et al. The effectiveness of virtual reality exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy for severe anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2022.
- Blumstein G, et al. Randomized trial of a virtual reality tool to teach surgical technique for tibial shaft fracture intramedullary nailing. Journal of Surgical Education, 2020.
- Orland MD, et al. Does virtual reality improve procedural completion and accuracy in an intramedullary tibial nail procedure? A randomized control trial. 2020.
