Traumatic Stress and Pediatric Pain: Towards a Neurobiological Stress-Health Perspective

Grace S Kao; Rashmi Parekh Bhandari; Samantha E Huestis; Brenda Golianu

doi:10.1007/s40653-017-0145-0

Traumatic Stress and Pediatric Pain: Towards a Neurobiological Stress-Health Perspective

J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2017 Apr 17;11(2):249-255. doi: 10.1007/s40653-017-0145-0. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Authors

Grace S Kao^{1

2

3

4}, Rashmi Parekh Bhandari^{1

2}, Samantha E Huestis^{1

2}, Brenda Golianu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ 1Stanford Children's Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA USA.
² 2Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA USA.
³ 3Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX USA.
⁴ 4Texas Children's Hospital, 6621 Fannin St., #A3300, Houston, TX 77030 USA.

Abstract

This theoretical review aims to present the limited findings on traumatic stress and pain in children and adolescents, highlight recent discoveries regarding neurobiological processes, and suggest an alternative stress-health perspective in the future study and conceptualization of pediatric pain and traumatic stress based on results. Current literature highlights a positive correlation between pain and trauma symptoms in youth and suggests a complex relationship that may have mutually maintaining dynamics and intertwined physiological processes. Developmentally sensitive, longitudinal, process-oriented designs assessing neurobiological alterations and stress responses should be utilized in the examination of the trauma-pain relationship. Such investigations may provide a more unified explanation of the relationship between chronic pain and traumatic stress.

Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Neurobiology; Pain; Traumatic stress.

Publication types

Review