Whole Healthcare Magazine

TechAge
VIRTUAL REALITY
FACILITATING MOTHERHOOD
BY RELIEVING FROM UNEASE
VR for a long time now has been
marketed as an escape from reality.
In numerous cases, this has been
structured in almost dystopian terms, with
futurists predicting an era where many of us
will choose hanging out in highly perfect
virtual worlds over trying to improve the
flawed real world. However, it is encouraging
to observe that most of the practical
applications of VR have been aimed at
socially laudable objectives.
But, when the University Hospital of Wales
in Cardiff announced that it had begun a trial
in which VR headsets would be given to
women in labor it was emphasized again. The
purpose here is to numb the unenviable pains
of childbirth, which prompt at least 50% of
women who give birth in the U.S. each year
to opt for an epidural.