Fox 4: Program helps kids struggling with chronic pain

By Loren Halifax

What do you do when your child gets hurt and the pain never goes away -- sometimes stretching into years?

It's called amplified pain syndrome, and the Amplified Pain Clinic at Children’s Mercy is successfully treating children and teenagers who struggle with the chronic, debilitating pain.

Amplified pain is an umbrella term that can encompass many different types of pain.

The initial pain may be due to illness or injury, but it becomes amplified when the nerves become overactive and begin to fire abnormally. Those signals can act on blood vessels and cause additional autonomic symptoms. It also causes tremendous stress for young people as the pain makes it difficult or even impossible to enjoy activities and attend school.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Taylor has spent the past six years searching for pain relief from a fractured vertebrae.

It led her from her home in Bentonville, Arkansas, to seek help at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, which offers one of only about 10 amplified pain programs in the country.

Read the full article and view the video via Fox 4 KC. 

Learn about the services offered through Children's Mercy's Pain Management Program. 

Learn about the Amplified Pain Clinic at Children's Mercy. 

Learn about the Rehabilitation for Amplified Pain Syndrome (RAPS) at Children's Mercy.