Lifestyle Interventions in Recurrent and Chronic Pain Management in Children and Adolescents

Dear Colleagues,

Chronic pain, defined as persistent or recurring pain lasting longer than 3 months, is a common problem during the periods of childhood and adolescence. Chronic pain can deleteriously impact the lives of youths and their families. Specifically, if not addressed early on, chronic pain can negatively impact their school functioning, sleep quality, social and family functioning, mental health, physical activity, and overall health-related quality of life. The lives of families and caregivers are also significantly impacted. Moreover, unfortunately, many children and adolescents with chronic pain become adults with chronic pain. The persistence of chronic pain from childhood to adulthood has significant social and economic consequences, highlighting the importance of understanding the epidemiology of this disease, and improving treatment modalities aiming to reduce the impact that chronic pain has on the lives of children and adolescents. Cumulating evidence has shown that lifestyle factors, such as physical (in)activity, stress, poor sleep, and an unhealthy diet, are associated with chronic pain severity and perpetuate the condition across all age categories, including children. Therefore, individually tailored multimodal lifestyle interventions hold great potential for improved outcomes and decrease the psychological and socioeconomic burden of chronic pain in children.

As pediatric pain is a young but rapidly growing field of research, the goal of this Special Issue of Children is to highlight recent advances in lifestyle interventions for the management of primary and secondary chronic or recurrent pain in children and adolescents. We welcome reviews and original research articles that consider novel approaches and identify knowledge gaps.

Dr. Emma Rheel
Prof. Dr. Marieke De Craemer
Guest Editors

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• chronic pain
• recurrent pain
• lifestyle interventions
• treatment
• management
• children
• adolescents