Irén is a four-year-old girl with dystonic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, GMFCS level V. She is non-verbal and generally a content little girl. Over the last week she has been holding her muscles tensely, she has a distressed expression for most of the day, and has developed a behavior of constant grunting and gasping. Her parents come to PT to seek your opinion. Is she in pain?
Pretest:
Take a moment to scan of your caseload and note the kids you think may be in pain.
How do you know?
Do you have any measurement tools?
Children with CP frequently experience pain:
- Pain in childhood disability is typically under-identified, measured, and treated by clinicians.
- Pain in childhood disability is complex. It impacts everyday function and quality of life. As pain increases, quality of life dramatically decreases. Parental stress levels increase.
- Pain partially accounts for the association between cerebral palsy and depression. (Whitney, 2018)
- There remains a gap in knowledge between accurate pain assessments and effective treatments.
Continue reading “What do we Know About Pain in Cerebral Palsy?”