One of SHARESPACE’s flagship XR scenarios focuses on Chronic Low Back Pain. We could not miss the opportunity to participate in the 2024 IASP World Congress on Pain, held from August 5-9 in Amsterdam. The IASP World Congress on Pain is the largest gathering of pain professionals globally, bringing together over 5,000 scientists, clinicians, and healthcare providers from various pain-related disciplines. This year’s congress also marked IASP’s 50th Anniversary, featuring reflections on industry advancements in pain research and key IASP milestones over the past five decades.
Professor Azucena Garcia-Palacios from the University of Jaume I in Spain (partner UJI) and Professor Benoît Bardy from the University of Montpellier in France (partner UM) represented SHARESPACE at the congress. They delivered scientific presentations and spoke on the Innovation Stage on August 7. Their talks highlighted key conceptual issues surrounding social information transmission, focusing on the two main pillars of our project: synchronization and amplification. They also emphasized why XR technologies are now gaining traction in clinical fields, including low back pain rehabilitation, and presented our initial findings. These findings demonstrate the promising potential of conducting physical therapy in a shared VR space while experiencing embodiment in an avatar and fostering social connection.
