Virtual Reality and Cranial Nerve Non-invasive Neuromodulation to Improve Quality of Life for Veterans

Launched by UNIVERSITÉ DE SHERBROOKE · Aug 15, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying a new way to help veterans who live with long-lasting pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study is testing whether combining virtual reality (VR)—which can help calm the nervous system—with a gentle, non-invasive treatment that stimulates nerves through the tongue (called cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation or CN-NINM) can improve pain and PTSD symptoms. Researchers want to see if this combination works better than VR alone and if it can help improve veterans’ overall quality of life.

Veterans who are 18 years or older, have chronic musculoskeletal pain lasting more than six months, and have been diagnosed with PTSD (or have a high score on a PTSD questionnaire) may be eligible to join. Participants will attend sessions where they experience 20 minutes of VR combined with either real or sham (placebo) nerve stimulation. Their pain and PTSD symptoms will be checked before and after each session. This study is not yet recruiting, but if successful, this new approach could offer veterans an additional, safe option to manage pain and PTSD in the future.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Be a veteran;
• • 2. Be ≥18 years old;
• • 3. Have a diagnosis of chronic musculoskeletal pain (pain \> 6 months);
• • 4. Have been diagnosed with PTSD by a health professional and/or have a PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) score \> 30/80 and
• • 5. Speak English or French.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Bipolar disorder, psychosis;
• • 2. Neuropathic pain (based on the Neuropathic Pain Diagnosis and Questionnaire (DN4));
• • 3. Visual disorders or photosensitivity, color blindness;
• • 4. Epilepsy, motion sickness and
• • 5. Any containdications to CN-NINM.