By Meghan Frank and Neal Carter
Rock Center
Lieutenant Sam Brown could not wait to experience combat.
“It's an interesting thing, this desire to go to combat. It's something that's fantasized for people that have not experienced it,” Brown told NBC’s Natalie Morales in an interview airing Thursday on Rock Center with Brian Williams. “And so, I had a really strong desire to be a part of that. To me, that was a way to serve my country,” he said.
Lieutenant Sam Brown
Born to a proud military family, Brown attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and trained to become a member of the elite Army Rangers 1st infantry division. In 2008, Brown deployed for his first tour of duty to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
But on the last day of his mission, a nearby platoon was ambushed. Lieutenant Brown sprang into action, leading his troops to the vicious firefight to provide backup.
“I led them to the combat. And then, that's when we hit the IED.,” recalled Brown.
His Humvee ran over an improvised explosive device and exploded into a fireball. His body was engulfed in flames and Brown suffered third degree burns over 30% of his body. His injuries were so severe he was kept in a medically induced coma for the first few weeks to help him survive.
Brown was airlifted back to the United States and examined by Dr. Christopher Maani, an anesthesiologist in the burn unit of Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
“With burn injury, that rehabilitative process can go on for weeks to months, sometimes even years if the burn is significant enough as it was in Sam's case,” Dr. Maani said.
Remains of Lt. Sam Brown's Humvee after running over IED
Lt. Brown endured more than two dozen painful surgeries, but the most excruciating pain came from the daily wound care and the physical therapy that followed. The procedures were so unbearable that there were times when Brown's superior officers would have to order him to undergo treatment.
Brown was deeply concerned about growing dependent on the addictive painkilling narcotics he needed to take. So, his doctor suggested something completely unexpected to relieve his pain: a video game.
“I was a little bit skeptical. But honestly, I was willing to try anything,” Brown admitted.
A video game may sound silly, but this particular game, SnowWorld, is a groundbreaking experiment in virtual reality. In SnowWorld, Brown could concentrate on throwing snowballs at penguins and mastodons to the music of Paul Simon, instead of focusing on the painful wound care happening at the same time.
Dr. Maani explained that SnowWorld uses the age old trick of distraction.
“It's saying, ‘Hey, look over there,’ when you rip off your child's band aid,” Dr. Maani said.
The video game provides the distraction that overwhelms the senses and diverts the brain’s attention away from processing the pain signals.
The virtual reality of SnowWorld was dreamed up at the University of Washington by two psychologists, Dr. David Patterson and Dr. Hunter Hoffman.
SnowWorld
Dr. Patterson had been working with burn patients and he explained that the treatment they have to undergo is excruciating and can feel more painful than getting the burn itself.
“With virtual reality distraction, you're taking a painful procedure like scrubbing off a wound,” Patterson said. “You're just taking the person and putting them in an alternate world. And it works for as long as people seem to be in the virtual world.”
Dr. Hoffman had been using virtual reality to help people confront their fear of spiders. But this time, instead of bringing his patients face to face with what they dreaded most, he'd do the opposite. The doctor decided to give them a soothing icy world to make them forget.
In 2011, the military conducted a small study using SnowWorld and got stunning results. For soldiers in the worst pain, SnowWorld worked better than morphine. And, with thousands of troops having suffered severe burns and trauma from IED blasts, the military is determined to find new ways to treat pain.
WATCH ROCK CENTER VIDEO: Doctor prescribes video game to ease soldier's pain
Dr. Hoffman is surprised when it comes to the therapy’s success.
“The fact that you're getting such huge reductions in pain using something that's not a drug is a paradigm shift,” he said.
For Sam Brown, SnowWorld was a Godsend. For the first time since his accident, he felt relief, without drugs.
“I really had very little sensation of pain, as I had previously experienced,” Brown said.
But it wasn't just SnowWorld that helped Brown recover. He found something even more powerful to heal his pain.
When Lt. Brown was out of the hospital, his dietician Amy Larsen would call and check to make sure he was receiving his nutritional supplements. One time when she called his old self came through.
“I asked if there was anything else that he needed. And he kind of started to joke around with me a little bit, and he said, 'Can you send me some doughnuts too?'” Larsen laughed. “And then I could tell that Sam kind of wanted to talk a little bit more.”
Brown worked up the courage to ask Larsen out to a rodeo and the two began dating, but at times he couldn't believe that what was happening was real. Brown had convinced himself that no one would ever be able to look beyond his physical scars.
One day a chaplain came to speak with Brown and reassured him he would find someone who would see past his wounds.
Brown said the chaplain told him “Someone will see beyond those scars, will fall in love with you, and you'll have a beautiful family one day." Laughing in disbelief, Brown dismissed the chaplain’s words, but six months later the chaplain was officiating Larsen and Brown’s wedding.
Three years after the blast Brown and Larsen welcomed a son, Roman, into the world. Brown lives with very little pain now and he says he no longer needs the distraction of SnowWorld.
The combat soldier turned family man has a brighter outlook on the new life around him. Brown said with pride, “The world I have now with Amy, and Roman, and God willing, more children, is all I need.”
Lt. Sam Brown with his wife Amy and son Roman
Leave a Comment:
I knew, it......Games > Drugs *Boom*
Put these heroes on an MMO like world of warcraft or guild wars, and watch as they literally completely forget to take even their most basic pain medication. These games do have positive uses, i am 100% convinced,
I used an MMO unintentionally to cope with some injuries that were not being subdued by medication. I agree there are some interesting possibilities with games being able to numb pain simply by distraction. I'd not only forgo medication but I'd also forget to eat though so there are some downsides.
This is not news to me. I used video games to help me through cancer treatments and I now use them to help me live with MS. Gamers rock!
Like anything else, if you use that brilliant mind of yours to use something right, a soldier like Sam Brown not only comes back to our country, he gets the care he needs to live a normal life again.
Dude, do you get paid to write garbage like this stupid comment about normal life again or what...?
Virtual reality has been an emerging treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), pain, and a number of other maladies. I was a skeptic myself at first, but it was tried as far back as the early 90s. We conducted the first major tests in Active Duty Service Members starting in 2005, and had a lot of success. I even took a system with me on deployment to Iraq. The power of the mind is pretty amazing when you give it the right tools. Virtual reality isn’t a cure all, but it is one more important tool in the toolbox towards helping our Service Members get back to their lives after combat.
Robert McLay, MD PhD
Author of
"At War With PTSD: Batting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Virtual Reality “
Johns Hopkins University Press.
Yeah, big @!$%#. Burn one. And if it wasn't for the friggin' ESTABLISHMENT you could grow your own...lmfao
thank you for the research resource
.
I think it it great that they are finally using this technology to help with pain.
15 years ago, my daughter introduced my fater, who was in constant pain, to Super Mario. When he played super mario he did not need his pain medication.
We told his Dr.s about this and they replied, "well that is interesting but not proven." Hello whe he played video games he did not need medication. The distraction was wonderful and he took less Morphine. We got my dad back... With less pain he was more loving and we all enjoyed his company.
If this can help a burned soldier, then imagine what miracles it can work for a small child! Trying to get a little kid to hold still is dodgy even when they're well. And painkillers have more adverse effects because they have smaller, still-growing bodies. Heck, hook these up at dental offices and it would certainly take the edge off a cavity filling.
And parents said that video games were bad for you...wait till mom hears this story... :P
Physical pain can NOT be treat with a pill only!! I found that out in '97 when a patient with FM got great relief from Acupuncture. But acupuncture it just the tip of the spectrum of pain therapy as per Janet G. Travell, MD, and C Chan Gunn, MD. These pioneers of pain therapy discovered that complex pain is in the muscles and connective tissues and can be treated and the curing process began with needles as in myofascial release therapy. This is the most powerful tool in medicine. Combined with wellness etc, this will start and complete the healing process back to a more normal state.
As an above-knee amputee for over 40 years I still suffer from phantom limb pain from time to time. I have found that playing an auto racing video game can emiminate the pain until pain meds kick in. I have also found that I can block the pain by concertration alone, however that takes a lot of effort.
Thank you to Lt. Sam for serving our country and showing us this new experiment. I hope this moves to more than just the military so kids and adults with cancer can have something to take their mind off of when they have to go through treatments. And I hope it's presented to everyone else too that have to go through painful procedures, like having a catheter inserted.
God bless Sam Brown. God bless him I say. And his family. And SnowWorld. And Paul Simon's penguins.
WOW! this is just like that steroid they inject into people's back. It was supposed to work wonders, now everyone is dying from it. Next headline:
Digital therapy causes convulsions in Pain patients.
Enough already, just let them use the drugs, geeze!
Warms my heart to read such well written and understanding of the conditions or criteria associated with these so called tests or experiments...
Just a real shame I have to reclaim by clicking on those comments after they have been closed by the community???? Just to read the good ones...
I'm a little confussed by that...
Yea, Yea, all well and good but without the distraction you are going to feel the pain like never before...I know from siatica nerve damage...
What I liked most was burning a spliff and forgetaboutit for a couple hours. That was the best...
Exactly. This article is 100% grade A bull@!$%#.
I get so emotional when I read stories like this. This article is such an awe inspiring article, and that soldier is such an amazing, strong, couragous individual. Thank god for people like this!!
Finally! A positive video game story!
I can verify that this also works with dental pain. I had a dentist that used to allow his patients to watch TV while undergoing dental procedures, and I can tell you that this made a world of difference as to how much pain I felt. Visual and audio distraction is very helpful in combating pain.
The way he looks how could she?
lmao well what can you expect from a mediocre news outlet such as "MSN". This is an obvious and pathetic ploy for the video game corporations to promote the product... Amnestia and painkillers work 100x better than this "video games stop pain" bull@!$%#. Not to mention the fact that people with high levels of focus/meditation alone have been able to stop their own pain for centuries now... This article is yet another example of society spiraling down into the universe of "Idiocracy".
This article is nearly as bad as the 50's commercials claiming that "smoking tabacco is good for you" LOL
GQ ran this story on Lieutenant Sam months ago. Nice to see it is helping him feel better!
I am a clinical hypnotherapist with a doctorate in fear and pain management. Much like helping a patient create a "happy place" where they can go to be distracted. I love this idea and have been aware of it for some time. Anything is better than drugs.
I have long found that when dealing with back pain, or any other pain, getting involved in a game on the computer helps by distracting the brain - letting it focus on something else. Watching T.V., reading a book, etc. just isn't the same. My youngest daughter was diagnosed with ADD. Due to other diagnoses, medication was not a real option. They have a neurofeedback therapy that is like a video game. It worked for her, and has worked for countless others. Of course, insurance doesn't cover that.