An observational study in Normal Physiology and Pain, sponsored by National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 12 Years to 120 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-13.
Sponsored by National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) · Observational
Background:
Researchers want to better understand pain by studying people with and without different kinds of pain. To do this, researchers will expose people to pleasant and unpleasant sensations. They will ask them questions about their pain. Researchers also want to see if these people are eligible for other research studies at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Objectives:
To study the experience of pain. Also to find people eligible to join other NIH studies.
Eligibility:
People 12 years and older with and without pain disorders.
Design:
Participants will be screened by phone.
Participants will have one required visit lasting about 2 hours. This may include:
Quantitative sensory testing: They will be exposed to different pictures, sounds, tastes, and smells. They will also be exposed to pleasant and unpleasant sensations. These could include:
Participants may have up to 12 other outpatient study visits.
Participants may be recorded at the visits.
Objective:
The purpose of this study is to allow for the deep, broad, and targeted phenotyping of persons with or without pain disorders. This protocol will enable NCCIH investigators to describe the clinical aspects of pain disorders, collect scientific measurements for the purpose of making deep phenotypic descriptions, and use the collected data to perform descriptive analyses of pain disorders. The study will also facilitate obtaining information relevant to determining if a person is potentially eligible to participate in other research protocols at NIH, in particular those of the Office of the Clinical Director (OCD) at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The specific goals of this protocol are the following:
Research:
Study Population: The study population will consist of up to 10,000 persons with or without pain disorders, who seek to participate in research protocols at NIH, primarily those sponsored by NCCIH Division of Intramural Research investigators. Human beings of adolescence age or older (>= 12 years) that are willing to provide assent and/or consent may participate in the study. This protocol is open to participants of any ethnicity, gender, or nationality.
Design:
The protocol is designed as a cross-sectional observational study. Participants will initially undergo an informed consent process and a core phenotyping evaluation, which includes a clinical evaluation from a Licensed Independent Practitioner (LIP) and questionnaires. Following the core evaluation, participants may undergo selected scientific measurements for phenotyping purposes. Phenotyping measurements can occur over the course of several years.
Outcome Measures:
The study will use a wide variety of measurement tools for phenotyping purposes. These include, vital signs, medical history, physical exam, medical record review, qualitative pain interview, patient reported outcome measurements, psychological and behavioral measurements, clinical laboratory measurements, structural and functional imaging assessments using magnetic resonance imaging, and psychophysical measurements.
In summary, the NCCIH phenotyping protocol will enable investigators to obtain detailed clinical descriptions and collect phenotyping measurements from research participants, in particular those with pain disorders. It will collect information on research participants that, with consent, can be used to determine potential eligibility in other IRB-approved protocols and to support any further research and clinical decision making that would be based on this phenotyping information. The study will allow NCCIH investigators to perform descriptive research on pain disorders for use in hypothesis generation.
10,054 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain; 1,649 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 10,000 is above the median of 100 across 1,252 observational studies indexed under Pain.
Browse Pain studies →National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is the lead sponsor of 223 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Participants with or without pain disorders.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Adults and adolescents with or without pain disorders.
To enable for the deep, broad, and targeted phenotyping of individuals, in particular those with rare and unusual pain disorders.
Data are to be collected via medical history, physical examinations, questionnaires, laboratory samples and MRI imaging.
Time frame: 36 months
To facilitate obtaining information relevant to determining potential eligibility in IRB-approved NIH protocols, in particular those of the Clinical Investigations Branch of NCCIH.
Data are to be collected via medical history, physical examinations, questionnaires, laboratory samples and MRI imaging.
Time frame: 36 months
Plan to share: No — We will only share deidentified data with repositories or publications, as specified in the protocol.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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