Pain management health centre

Pain rating scale

A pain rating scale and pain assessment scales are ways of letting a doctor or other healthcare professional know how severe pain is.

Pain can be rated for severity, intensity, how much distress it is causing and the effect on a person's quality of life.

Pain scales can help patients and doctors assess whether pain has eased or improved with treatment.

How is the pain rating scale used?

When you first seek treatment for pain, completing a pain questionnaire provides your GP with a baseline of your pain. It shows how pain affects you in several ways:

• How distressing your pain is
• How your pain interferes with your daily routine
• How intense your pain is

Numbers on the pain rating scale

You're asked to rank your pain on a scale of zero (no pain) to 10 (extreme pain). The questions deal with your pain now (at the moment you are filling in the form) and your pain in the last week. And the scale asks how distressing you find your pain because some people cope better with pain than others.

Your GP may ask you to repeat the pain rating scale during the course of your treatment. It will help your healthcare team evaluate how well your treatment plan is working and determine if it needs to be revised.

The pain rating scale is one tool to help manage your pain

The pain rating scale is one tool your GP uses to help manage your pain. A pain diary is another tool that enables your healthcare provider to profile your pain and manage it. For the pain diary, you're asked to log where the pain is, how severe it is, what you were doing when it started or worsened, and whether you used medication or other treatments. Your GP may also ask you to fill out a pre-consultation questionnaire about your pain. This will help identify your type of pain, how you are coping with the pain, and what pain management options are available to you.

Treating chronic pain can be a challenge. Help your GP help you by providing an accurate picture of your pain and its impact on your life from one visit to the next.