Assessing Pain Processing in Older Adults: What Is Necessary and What Works Best?

The burden of chronic pain disproportionately impacts older adults, yet pain processing in older individuals remains a neglected topic of research. This interactive workshop provides participants with practical, evidence-based training in the assessment of pain processing in older adults. As aging may alter both pain perception and expression differently, conventional assessment tools often fall short. Through a series of hands-on stations, participants will learn to tailor verbal and non-verbal assessment methods to older persons, integrating behavioral indicators of pain and cognitive screening into their evaluations. The workshop also offers in-depth guidance on adapting quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocols for older individuals, as well as exploring more dynamic experimental pain protocols suited to this older population. This hands-on workshop bridges clinical insight with methodological rigor—equipping attendees with the skills to assess clinical pain by geriatric pain interview and questionnaires as well as sensitivity to pain more accurately by adapted experimental measures in aging individuals.