Exercise testing in a paediatric chronic pain cohort - A cross-sectional observation study

Area of Science:

• Paediatric Pain Management
• Clinical Exercise Physiology
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• The role of exercise testing in interdisciplinary paediatric chronic pain assessment remains largely unexplored.
• This study investigates exercise test outcomes in children with chronic pain and their relationship with patient-reported measures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore exercise testing results in a paediatric chronic pain cohort.
• To determine associations between baseline exercise testing results and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).
• To examine correlations between different exercise tests within this cohort.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 153 participants (aged 6-17 years) from a paediatric chronic pain clinic.
• Exercise tests included the six-minute walk test (6MWT), plank, prone extension, and pushups.
• Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between exercise tests and PROMs, and between different exercise tests.

Main Results:

• Six-minute walk test (6MWT) distances were higher in younger children; other tests showed no age-related differences.
• Associations between exercise tests and PROMs ranged from weak to moderate (r_s = .18–.40).
• Correlations between different exercise tests were also weak to moderate (r_s = .17–.52), with 6MWT, plank, and pushups showing multiple associations.

Conclusions:

• Exercise testing provides unique, supplementary data for paediatric chronic pain assessments.
• Findings suggest exercise tests can offer valuable information beyond standard PROMs.
• Standardized exercise protocols and normative data are crucial for comparable clinical and research findings across settings.