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Enrolling by invitationNCT07778069Updated Aug 24, 2026

VR for Steroid Joint Injections - Feasibility

An interventional study of VR-PAT in Acute Pain, Procedural Anxiety and Juvenile Idiopahtic Arthritis, sponsored by Nationwide Children's Hospital. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 5 Years to 17 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-24.

Sponsored by Nationwide Children's Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
5 Years to 17 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of the project is to implement virtual reality for pain and anxiety management for patients undergoing intra-articular glucocorticoid injections in the outpatient pediatric rheumatology clinic.

Read the detailed description

To assess feasibility of VR use in the clinic, 10 patients will be recruited to use VR during non-sedated intra-articular (IA) glucocorticoid injections. All patients will be offered our typical analgesia (LMX topical cream, freeze spray, lidocaine injection). Patients and caregivers will be asked to fill out pre-injection and post-injection surveys, and staff (rheumatology clinic nurses) will be asked for feedback regarding feasibility of VR in clinical workflows.

The specific aims of the study are to:

Aim 1: Assess the feasibility and efficacy of VR use to reduce pain in patients undergoing non-sedated IA glucocorticoid injections at Nationwide Children's Hospital

02

Conditions studied

  • Acute Pain
  • Procedural Anxiety
  • Juvenile Idiopahtic Arthritis

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Keywords

  • Virtual Reality
  • VR
  • JIA
  • Rheumatology
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
5 Years to 17 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. rheumatology patients (5-17 years old) who are undergoing an IA glucocorticoid injection in the Nationwide Children's Rheumatology Clinic,
  2. have a legal guardian present for patients less than 18 years old for the procedure (for informed consent), and
  3. can communicate orally.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. any wounds that may interfere with study procedures,
  2. vision, hearing, or cognitive/motor impairments preventing valid administration of study measures,
  3. history of motion sickness, seizure disorder, dizziness, or migraine headaches precipitated by visual auras,
  4. minors in foster care,
  5. unable to communicate in English,
  6. pregnant women, or
  7. prisoners
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
10 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Intervention

    Participants will be using the VR-PAT during IA glucocorticoid injections

    Other: VR-PAT

Interventions

  • OtherVR-PAT

    Virtual Reality Pain Alleviation Therapeutic (VR-PAT) via a Pico Neo3 Pro Eye

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Practicality/utility of the VR experience as a pain and anxiety management tool for IA joint injection procedures

    Assessed by the nurse answering the following questions: "Is this distraction tool helpful during joint injection procedures (Yes/No)?" and "Is this distraction tool easy to use during joint injections (Yes/No)?"

    Time frame: Immediately following the IA joint injection procedure

Secondary outcomes

  1. Self-reported change procedural anxiety

    0-10 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (self-reported), 0(min)-10(max), with higher score indicating worse anxiety.

    Time frame: Immediately before the IA joint injection procedure and immediately after

  2. Self-reported pain

    0-10 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (self-reported), 0(min)-10(max), with higher score indicating worse pain. Asked for worst pain, average pain, and time spent thinking about pain.

    Time frame: Immediately following the IA joint injection procedure

06

Study locations

1 site
  • Nationwide Children's Hospital
    Columbus, Ohio 43205, United States
07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07778069
Lead sponsor
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Responsible party
Henry Xiang (Professor of Medicine and Center Director, Nationwide Children's Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 21, 2026
Start date
Aug 20, 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jul 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 24, 2026

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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