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

Description: 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.

Intended Audience: Clinical Practice, Cross-disciplinary, Clinical Research, Basic Science, Trainee, Other

Theme: Other

Educational Objectives:

• select appropriate verbal and non-verbal pain assessment methods tailored to older adults
• administer quantitative sensory testing (QST) and other pain assessment protocols adapted for older populations
• evaluate the cognitive status of older individuals as part of the assessment process

Please provide the title of each station.: 1. Tailoring pain assessment for Older Adults
2. Recognizing and Interpreting Behavioral Indicators of Pain in Older Adults
3. Assessing Comorbidities in Aging and Pain: Focus on Cognitive Function
4. Quantitative Sensory Testing in Older Adults
5. Dynamic Experimental Pain Paradigms for Aging Populations

Key Insight Per Station: 1. Tailoring pain assessment for Older Adults
This station demonstrates how to select and apply validated pain assessment tools for older populations, ranging from self-report scales, questionnaires to interview techniques.

2. Recognizing and Interpreting Behavioral Indicators of Pain in Older Adults
Participants will gain practical skills in identifying non-verbal signs of pain, such as facial expressions, body language, and vocalizations altered in advanced age, using standardized observational tools and guided coding exercises based on real-time and video data.

3. Assessing Comorbidities in Aging and Pain: Focus on Cognitive Function
This station highlights the importance of cognitive screening in pain assessment in older individuals, offering hands-on experience with brief tools like the MoCA, MMST, DemTect and teaching communication strategies for working with cognitively impaired older adults.

4. Quantitative Sensory Testing in Older Adults
Attendees will learn how to adapt QST protocols—thermal, mechanical, and pressure-based—to age-related sensory changes, with emphasis on safety, reliability, variability, and step-by-step procedural guidance.

5. Dynamic Experimental Pain Paradigms for Aging Populations
This station presents more dynamic experimental pain protocols tailored to older individuals, focusing on paradigms such as conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and temporal summation of pain (TSP), while addressing age-specific considerations (e.g. attentional load).

Speakers

Name	Institution	Country
Stefan Lautenbacher	University of Bamberg, University of Augsburg	Germany
Miriam Kunz	University of Augsburg	DE