Virtual Reality: A New Tool for Nashua Back Pain Recovery

August 12, 2025

If you're suffering with chronic back pain, you know how challenging it can be to strengthen the deep muscles that support your spine. Traditional exercises often feel monotonous, and pain can make it difficult to know if you're moving correctly. But what if there was a way to make rehabilitation more engaging while actually reducing your pain perception? Enter virtual reality (VR) – a technology that's providing new possibilities for Nashua back pain treatment at Moriarty Chiropractic.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND VR AND PAIN RELIEF

Recent groundbreaking research published in Scientific Reports has shown that virtual reality can literally alter what your brain does with pain signals. When patients with chronic low back pain used VR systems with visual feedback, they experienced altered pain perception during movement. (1) This is not just distraction – it is your brain learning new responses to movement patterns that usually cause discomfort.

VR helps by changing the visual information you receive, creating a difference between what you see and feel that allows your nervous system to develop pain-free ways of moving. This innovative finding suggests that VR can help interrupt the cycle of pain-avoidance that often keeps Nashua back pain sufferers from getting the exercise that can help them.

TARGETING YOUR DEEP SPINAL MUSCLES

One of the biggest challenges in back pain recovery is strengthening the lumbar erector spinae – the deep muscles that run along your spine and provide crucial stability. In people with chronic back pain, these muscles commonly become weak and less coordinated which creates a vicious cycle of instability and further pain.

New research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology points out that these muscles show different fatigue patterns and spatial distribution changes in older adults compared to younger persons, highlighting the importance of age-appropriate, targeted training. (2) VR systems can offer instant feedback about muscle activation, teaching you how to effectively engage these deep stabilizing muscles that are typically challenging to feel and manage.

THE FUTURE OF REHABILITATION

Virtual reality creates an opportunity to merge pain science with engaging, interactive exercise. By delivering immediate visual feedback about your movement patterns and muscle activation, VR can help you restore your body's natural movement patterns while making the process more engaging and effective.

Check with your Nashua chiropractor at Moriarty Chiropractic about incorporating VR-based exercises into your treatment plan – it might just be the key to unlocking your path to lasting back pain relief.

CONTACT Moriarty Chiropractic

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Michael McMurray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in taking care of the professional athlete who is an exerciser by profession yet benefits from chiropractic care.

Schedule your Nashua chiropractic appointment today.