Giorgia Meneguzzo [ UOC Hospice Pediatrico – Azienda ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy]
Matteo Pirinu [Rehabilitation Professional Unit, Meyer Children’s University Hospital IRRCS, Florence, Italy]
Francesco Cantarelli [Ass. Casa del Sole Onlus, Mantova, Italy; Clinical and Experimental Sciences Department, University of Brescia, Italy]
Giulio Valagussa [ ]
Pain is a complex multidimensional phenomenon (1) and pain management is a challenge for physiotherapists (PTs). About 30% of children and adolescents present nociplastic pain at least once in their lifetime (1). In 2020, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) proposed an update of pain definition enriched by a new classification of the pain mechanisms underlying it (2,3). Preliminary data obtained through a pilot survey of a small group of colleagues from various European countries during the European Paediatric Physiotherapy Congress (EUPPT 2022) showed that the IASP terminology was known by about 60% of the participants. This study aims to investigate the knowledge and use in clinical practice of the most recent definition of pain and classification of pain mechanisms proposed by the IASP among PTs working in paediatrics in Italy.
The study is a Nationwide Questionnaire Survey, with 15 multiple-choice questions, and 1 non-compulsory open-ended question, addressed to Italian paediatric PTs, recruited among the members of the Specialist Interest Group (GIS) in Paediatric Physiotherapy of the Italian Association of Physiotherapy (AIFI) and the former students of the Master’s Degree Course in Paediatric Physiotherapy of the University of Florence. The results obtained were analysed through descriptive statistics.
Eighty-nine questionnaires were collected out of 400 sent. 77.5% of PTs work mainly with children, 6.5% with adults, the remainder with both. Only 44% of the PTs working primarily in paediatrics are familiar both with the IASP pain definition and classification. Moreover, 10% of those who know the classification do not use it in their clinical practice. Amongst the PTs working with the children, no significant differences were found in the use of the classification and the work context (i.e. hospital, community service) or work field (i.e. musculoskeletal, neurological, cardio-respiratory).
Finally, there was a significant difference in the use of the classification among PTs who had worked at least once with a child or adolescent with nociplastic pain and those who had never done so (p=0.03), and a further significant difference between those who worked with these children regularly and those who worked sporadically (p=0.007).
This study confirms the need to disseminate more knowledge on the classification of the pathophysiological mechanisms of pain among Italian physiotherapists working in paediatrics, especially considering that approximately 50% of the colleagues who participated in the survey have treated at least one child with nociplastic pain in their career.
