Many people with SCI experience neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is often described as sharp, burning, or electric. 'Traditional' treatments often do not do a good job at reducing neuropathic pain. Therefore, it is important to see if 'non-traditional' treatments might work. Scientists think that neuropathic pain occurs in SCI because the sensations coming from the eyes and up the spinal cord to the brain do not match what the brain thinks it told the body to do. This 'mis-match' may result in changes in the brain that make neuropathic pain possible. Virtual reality walking reduces this 'mis-match.' It does this by creating the 'illusion' that the person is walking. The brain then thinks it is telling the body to walk AND the information coming from the eyes matches its instructions. This 'matching' may reverse the brain changes that made neuropathic pain possible.
The purpose of this study is to determine if playing a virtual reality walking game can help improve neuropathic pain in adults with chronic spinal cord injury.