Parents and carers of children, teenagers and young adults experiencing pain

Persistent pain affects people of all ages, including children, teenagers and young people. However, sometimes pain in children, teens and young people can be overlooked. Children may find it harder to describe their pain or how they feel, so their pain can be dismissed, and teenagers’ pain may be dismissed as symptoms of stress. There are often factors occurring alongside a young person’s pain such as puberty, tension in interpersonal relationships, mental health, trauma, learning difficulties and neurodiversity.

Parents can often be the best judge of a child’s pain as they understand their child’s usual reactions and behaviours.

The more common forms of ongoing childhood pain include:

• widespread musculoskeletal pain (including joint pain)
• back pain
• headaches and migraines
• abdominal pain
• complex regional pain syndrome.

Persistent pain cannot be seen or detected through scans. But that doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real. If your child is experiencing ongoing pain, it’s important to see a doctor for a thorough investigation.

Identifying pain in young people

It can be difficult to know how much pain your child is experiencing. Some children may be able to say they are sore or hurt but can struggle with communicating how much or in what way they are hurting. Listening to what they say and watching what they do can help identify whether they are experiencing pain.

Your child may be showing they are in pain by:

• crying or screaming
• pulling faces
• changes in their sleeping or eating patterns
• becoming quiet and withdrawn
• refusing to move.

If you are concerned about your child’s pain, whether it be acute or persistent, speak to your doctor.

Helping your child manage ongoing pain

For children, teenagers and young people, persistent pain can affect their normal growth and development if it’s left untreated, or not managed well. They risk becoming socially withdrawn and isolated, particularly if their pain means they miss time at school. Poor sleeping patterns can impact their general health and wellbeing, and fear of feeling pain can impact their movement.

It’s important to follow the advice given by your doctor or healthcare professional. But there are some steps you can take to help improve their general health and wellbeing:

• if possible, try to maintain school attendance, this helps your child have a regular routine, maintain social connections, and provide a distraction from focusing on symptoms
• encourage healthy sleep habits, for example, setting regular bedtime, limiting screen time and using relaxation techniques
• help them stay socially connected, you can talk to them about some of the challenges they may face with maintaining friendships and ways they can work to stay connected, or help them with what to say if asked about their pain.

Read more tips for parents of children with chronic pain.

Seeking treatment for persistent pain

A GP can play an important role in understanding and managing your child’s pain. They will conduct a thorough investigation of your child’s pain, which will inform how they develop a plan to manage it.

It’s important to establish good communication with your GP as they may become the key person in coordinating a pain management plan for your child. This may involve referral to a specialist or a specialist pain service or helping you to build a pain management team of different healthcare professionals, such as a physiotherapist, occupational therapist or psychologist.

Read about some steps you can take to prepare for your first appointment.

Transitioning to adult healthcare

If your child is between 14 and 18 years of age and has treatment for their pain in the paediatric health system, they may need to start a transition plan into adult healthcare services. This is a helpful step to ensure they don't fall in the gap of paediatric and adult health systems, particularly if they require ongoing services for their condition.

This can be daunting and requires good planning to make the transition experience as smooth as possible. Children’s Health Queensland has developed a useful guide, Transitioning to adulthood, to help young people through the process.

Learn more about connected care.

Looking after yourself

This can be a challenging time for everyone, and families can also be impacted. Parents missing work, siblings feeling left out and impact of ongoing stress. Being a parent of a child with persistent pain can be exhausting, make sure you take steps to find support and look after yourself:

• schedule downtime for yourselves
• get plenty of sleep
• try to eat well and get exercise for your own health and wellbeing
• seek support from a GP, psychologist or counsellor
• seek respite, ask a trusted family member or family friend for assistance
• speak to your GP or your child’s primary health provider about resources to help discuss your situation with your employer, if needed.