Friday 20 April 2007

Explaining Pain

NOTE ON RECORDING PAIN.

One of the issues with back pain and sciatica is that it can often be a hidden condition, you might look fine but you are in pain. No one can see it and it can be difficult to understand as the way we feel pain and interpret it can be different and very real for each person. Pain can be very subjective and difficult to describe accurately. Yet often you may need to be clear about your level and type of pain. In order to facilitate understanding you can try describing your pain levels on a scale of 0-10.

It is especially helpful when talking with professionals as you both then are talking from the same scale and can see how you are progressing. If you want to you can keep a "Pain diary" or a "Pain free diary" or worksheet to record your progress. This is especially useful if you are following a course of treatment and want to see how it is working for you. 

You can make your own scale up, or look around to see what others have used. As long as you share your codings with the person you are talking with about your health it doesn't matter...

This is the one I used which you are welcome to ..

0 = totally pain free

1-2=very mild, slightly nagging only occasional. Can do anything.

3=mild, annoying, still more pain free than painful. Can be affected by certain activities/interventions. Feel the need to take care.

4-5=moderate, intrusive when occurs, pain and pain free times about equal. Can be affected /eased by certain activities/interventions.

6=moderate to severe when occurs. Still not all the time but when occurs painful and affects what I can do. Activities limited. Pain relief interventions necessary.

7=Moderate to severe. More painful times than pain free. When occurs painful and affects what I can do and is debilitating. Activities restricted and interventions essential. Affects my ability to work when it occurs.

8=severe. Painful almost all the time. Doesn't seem to matter what I do or don't do. Everything is painful. Affects my quality of life. Affects my ability to work. Affects me emotionally/mentally as well as physically. Pain relief interventions crucial.

9=very severe. Always painful. Affects quality of life. Very debilitating. Affects me emotionally/mentally as well as physically. Affects my ability to work. Pain relief interventions crucial.

10.=Extremely severe. Affects everything. Activities severely limited. Unbearable. Affects me emotionally /mentally as well as physically. Cannot work. Pain relief interventions crucial and essential.

Take care
jasmine ann

If you liked this post do consider joining our Facebook Page Sciatica Solutions.



Lose The Back Pain System
Lose the Back Pain, is a system of self assessments to determine what physical imbalances you may have that may be causing your pain, then specific and targeted exercises to follow to address the imbalances, along with pain reduction strategies. 

For useful information and suggestions there is a Free Back Pain Book Written by the Healthy back Institute-


7 Day Back Pain Cure
This free book (there is a small shipping/handling fee for physical book) will give you a good starting point for taking back control of your back pain covering reasons for pain, pain relief, possible treatments, action plans and many other things you will find useful.
Follow Jasmine Ann Raintree's board Back And Sciatic Pain Strategies. on Pinterest.

No comments: