Articles: pain-measurement.
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The Varni/Thompson pediatric pain questionnaire (PPQ) represents an attempt to empirically assess the complexities of pediatric chronic, recurrent pain. This initial investigation targeted chronic musculoskeletal pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The PPQ provides a developmental step toward the comprehensive assessment of the pain experience in children with chronic pain. Further reliability and validity studies are needed to determine the generalizability of the PPQ with larger numbers of children with a variety of acute and chronic pain experiences across a diversity of settings.
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This paper describes the development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire designed to assess five attitudes considered important in the long-term adjustment of chronic pain patients. The specific subscales of the questionnaire were chosen to represent attitudes believed to influence the ways by which chronic pain patients manage their pain. Following the development of five reliable subscales, correlations of the subscales with self-reported pain behaviors and coping strategies were calculated, providing preliminary support for the concurrent validity of the instrument.
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In order to determine the relationship between trigger point sensitivity and the referred symptoms of myofascial pain, VAS ratings of referred pain intensity and pressure algometer measures of myofascial trigger point sensitivity were taken pre and post treatment of the muscle containing the trigger point with passive stretch. The results in 20 subjects, experiencing unilateral or bilateral myofascial head and neck pain, showed that myofascial trigger point sensitivity decreases in response to passive stretch as assessed by the pressure algometer, and that trigger point sensitivity and intensity of referred pain are related.