# Sensory Function and Chronic Pain in Cerebral Palsy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2022 · $480,886

## Abstract

Scientific advances from pain research in basic models and chronic pain populations are rarely translated and
applied to improve our clinical understanding of pain and disability among individuals with significant
intellectual, motor, and communicative impairments associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Despite
the well document burden of chronic pain in cerebral palsy (CP), the most common cause of pediatric-onset
lifelong motor and developmental disability, there is relatively little known about sensory function in relation to
chronic pain. The heterogeneity in CP etiology, pathophysiology, and clinical appearance suggests new
approaches may be warranted to identify measureable phenotypic patient characteristics predictive of
individual variation in chronic pain outcomes. Current pain assessment approaches used in CP are limited in
their ability to subgroup CP patients in relation to sensory function that may be relevant for understanding
pathophysiological pain mechanisms. Most of the sensory testing research conducted with CP, while important
and not in question, has relied on sensory stimuli designed to assess impaired discriminative tactile abilities
such as two-point discrimination, texture and shape perception reflecting large sensory fiber afferent function.
There has been little work incorporating sensory testing approaches that simultaneously evaluate loss and gain
of sensory function reflecting both large and small fiber afferent integrity. The specific purpose of this
application is to address the limited scientific understanding of sensory function in CP to ultimately reduce the
burden of chronic pain. As a first step to close the gap between the well documented pain burden in CP and
the relatively unexplored pain mechanisms in CP we are proposing to investigate an objective standardized
(protocol-based) measurement approach by extending the application of a modified quantitative sensory
testing (QST) protocol to characterize and compare sensory function in children with CP with and without
chronic pain. Our reasoning is as follows. First, comparing sensory function between chronic pain and no
chronic pain groups has the potential to reveal differences in underlying tactile/nociceptive sensory function
with high relevance for improving our understanding of chronic pain in CP and other severe IDD populations.
Second, applying QST to a large sample of children and adolescents with CP will provide the basis for
investigating sensory function in relation to individual and clinical characteristics, and health outcomes to
identify novel tailoring variables that could guide pain treatment target selection (no such guidelines exist right
now). Third, using a protocol-based approach affords an important standardized context in which to investigate
nociceptive and inflammatory relevant biomarkers. Finally, the logic of QST provides the basis for exploratory
but highly novel tests of sensory subtype constructs (gain, loss of function) in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10405642
- **Project number:** 5R01HD102552-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** FRANK J SYMONS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $480,886
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-05-14 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10405642

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10405642, Sensory Function and Chronic Pain in Cerebral Palsy (5R01HD102552-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10405642. Licensed CC0.

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