2026-10-14T04:39:13Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33965284 2026-09-22T13:49:25Z category_1 category_146 category_7 category_12 category_16 category_21 category_734 category_106 category_122 portal_87 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Understanding pain mechanisms in children and young people with cerebral palsy: feasibility and acceptability of quantitative sensory testing Aayushi Khillan (25090312) Adrienne Harvey (20012163) Daisy A. Shepherd (11530508) David J. Amor (11544665) Monica S. Cooper (21661782) Meredith Smith (7399706) Liam Carter (17876604) Carolyn Berryman (7252061) Biophysics Space Science Medicine Cell Biology Physiology Biotechnology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Science Policy Mental Health Cerebral palsy quantitative sensory testing chronic pain somatosensory feasibility <p>Chronic pain is common among young people with cerebral palsy (CP), yet underlying somatosensory mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and consistency of a standardised quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocol in this population.</p> <p>A multisite cross-sectional study across three Australian centres enrolled 35 young people with CP aged 8–25 years who were able to self-report. A mechanical QST battery assessed tactile and vibration detection, mechanical pain sensitivity and threshold, dynamic mechanical allodynia, wind-up ratio, and pressure pain threshold. Feasibility was defined by protocol completion rates, acceptability by stakeholder feedback and consistency by intraclass correlation coefficients.</p> <p>Full protocol completion was achieved by 45.7% of participants, with the remainder contributing partial but usable data. Non-nociceptive measures were better tolerated than pinprick-based assessments. Within-session consistency varied across modalities, ranging from poor to excellent. Mean assessment duration was 67 min. Acceptability was rated highly by participants and guardians.</p> <p>Mechanical QST is safe, acceptable and can be implemented flexibly across the functional diversity of young people with CP who can self-report. A pragmatic battery may support mechanism-based pain and somatosensory assessment in rehabilitation settings to enable individualised management, pending CP-specific normative data and protocol validation.</p> <p></p><p>Chronic pain in cerebral palsy is often driven by more than musculoskeletal factors, so rehabilitation clinicians should consider mechanism-based somatosensory assessment alongside standard pain history when planning individualised management.</p><p>Mechanical QST holds promise as a pain assessment tool: it was safe, well tolerated, and could be flexibly adapted to individual functional and communication needs, rather than requiring a one-size-fits-all protocol.</p><p>Where time or tolerance is limited, clinicians could prioritise pressure pain threshold, dynamic mechanical allodynia and vibration detection threshold as first-line measures at the hand and foot, retaining mechanical pain sensitivity and mechanical pain threshold with reduced repetitions and reserving wind-up ratio for those with sufficient tolerance, still yielding clinically meaningful sensory information without requiring the full battery</p><p>Broader clinical adoption will depend on developing cerebral palsy-specific reference values and simplified protocols; until these exist, results should be interpreted at the individual level rather than against normative benchmarks.</p><p></p> <p>Chronic pain in cerebral palsy is often driven by more than musculoskeletal factors, so rehabilitation clinicians should consider mechanism-based somatosensory assessment alongside standard pain history when planning individualised management.</p> <p>Mechanical QST holds promise as a pain assessment tool: it was safe, well tolerated, and could be flexibly adapted to individual functional and communication needs, rather than requiring a one-size-fits-all protocol.</p> <p>Where time or tolerance is limited, clinicians could prioritise pressure pain threshold, dynamic mechanical allodynia and vibration detection threshold as first-line measures at the hand and foot, retaining mechanical pain sensitivity and mechanical pain threshold with reduced repetitions and reserving wind-up ratio for those with sufficient tolerance, still yielding clinically meaningful sensory information without requiring the full battery</p> <p>Broader clinical adoption will depend on developing cerebral palsy-specific reference values and simplified protocols; until these exist, results should be interpreted at the individual level rather than against normative benchmarks.</p> 2026-09-22T13:49:25Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33965284.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Understanding_pain_mechanisms_in_children_and_young_people_with_cerebral_palsy_feasibility_and_acceptability_of_quantitative_sensory_testing/33965284 CC BY 4.0