PMR — Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Guided tension release for pain, stress, and muscle recovery.
Try Out The AppWatch PMR in Action
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a clinically validated technique used across PT, OT and SLP to help patients reduce muscle tension, lower stress levels, and improve body awareness. Developed by Edmund Jacobson in the 1920s, PMR trains individuals to consciously recognize and control patterns of muscular tension, often linked to pain, anxiety, neurological injury, or postural dysfunction.
In XR, PMR takes on new depth — combining verbal guidance with immersive environments and spatial audio to help patients tune out distractions and focus fully on each muscle group as they tense and release.
A sense of psychological escape
Space
A quiet deck on a space station, overlooking a distant planet.
Villa
A sunlit Southwestern villa, looking out onto a peaceful courtyard.
River
A snow-covered riverbank, with Northern lights illuminating the sky.
Screenshots
Clinical Research Support
A meta-analysis in the Journal of Health Psychology (Manzoni et al., 2008) confirmed PMR’s effectiveness in reducing anxiety, blood pressure, and muscular tension across clinical populations.
PMR has been shown to enhance pain tolerance and increase mobility in patients with musculoskeletal disorders (American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 2016).
When combined with conventional PT and OT, PMR was linked to improved Activities of Daily Living in stroke survivors (Disability and Rehabilitation, 2014).
Immersive VR formats have been shown to accelerate parasympathetic engagement compared to audio-only PMR protocols (Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2021).
Frontiers in Psychology (2021) reported that immersive environments help lower heart rate, reduce anxiety symptoms, and improve subjective well-being, even with minimal user training.
Available on the Meta Quest Store, as a standalone app, or as part of the Relief Suite (with Breathe XR and Soundscape Distraction). Deployable via ArborXR / ManageXR.
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Get the app as-is. No updates, offline use, perpetual license.
Includes all other AVRrelief apps as-is. Offline, perpetual license.
Unlock all current apps as-is. Offline, perpetual license.
Meta Quest 3S Headset pre-loaded with a Perpetual AVRsuite license.
Enterprise & Custom Deployments
Looking for enterprise-wide deployment, customized integrations, volume licenses, or dedicated staff onboarding and SLA support? Contact us for Enterprise Pricing. Enterprise packages include premium support, dedicated onboarding, staff training, and additional resources.
* Your license provides continued use of the purchased software version on the originally licensed device, with no ongoing licensing charges. License is device-specific and non-transferable. Future updates, upgrades, technical support, reinstallation, license transfers, and replacement-device activation are not included unless separately purchased or agreed to by AVRwell.
Looking for more clinical relaxation apps?
PMR is part of our Relief Suite. Explore other clinically tuned tools for pain distraction and stress management like Breathe XR (guided breathing) and Soundscape Distraction (focused sensory engagement).