Testing Simple Pain Sensitivity Assessments for Chronic Joint and Muscle Pain

Researchers are testing a new approach to understanding chronic musculoskeletal pain by combining a simple questionnaire called the Central Aspects of Pain (CAP) questionnaire with straightforward pain sensitivity assessments. The goal is to help doctors better identify when the nervous system—rather than just joint or muscle damage—is the main driver of chronic pain. This could lead to faster, more accurate diagnoses and better treatment choices for people living with conditions like osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory arthritis, and chronic low back pain.

Doctors often struggle to diagnose and measure the nervous system's role in chronic musculoskeletal pain because current testing methods are complicated, expensive, or require brain imaging. This trial exists to develop simpler clinical tools that can be used in everyday medical practice to identify these pain patterns and help doctors choose the most effective treatments.