King Research Lab

The King Lab focuses on understanding the biopsychosocial mechanisms contributing to the development and persistence of pain in youth and young adults. Chronic pain is common in adolescence and can include conditions like headache/migraine, abdominal pain and musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. Chronic pain is associated with more emotional, psychosocial and school impairments. Poor sleep is also common among adolescents with chronic pain.

At Cincinnati Children’s, our research program examines the presence of altered spatial and temporal filtering of nociceptive information (probed with quantitative sensory testing or QST), inflammation, and sleep (actigraphy) and its impact on clinical outcomes across a range of pediatric pain conditions, including migraine, low back pain, abdominal pain and chronic widespread pain (CWP).