Understanding pain mechanisms in children and young people with cerebral palsy: feasibility and acceptability of quantitative sensory testing

PURPOSE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.