Getting Specific About Your Pain

One of the most helpful things you can do for yourself and for your physician is to be very specific about where your pain is and what it feels like. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. It hurts to walk. I can’t bend over and tie my shoe or turn around without pain. You haven’t had a good nights sleep since you can remember. Your life is being ruled by pain. All you want is some relief. These are helpful statements and get you closer to a true view of your condition.

Getting very specific about the location and quality of your pain will help you fight it. The pain scale is a common tool that helps clinicians (and you)  understand how bad your pain is. Again pain is unique to you. You have to be honest with yourself and everyone else about what you feel. Think about things like intensity, sensation and intensity  in  the location of the pain. A simple chart like the following is often used to help evaluate your pain.

A score of 10 being the most pain that you can imagine, is extremely debilitating. That’s rare for most people. I always like to tell people that a zero is no pain at all and that a 10 is the level of pain that would make you pass out. If you’re sitting in front of me talking after you walked into the office you’re probably not at a 10. Use the scale accordingly. The scale can be extremely helpful in evaluating your condition and also in tracking your treatment to see if it is having a valuable effect.

According to the National Centers for Health Statistics, pain affects more than 76 million Americans. That’s more people than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer put together. Lower back pain tops the list of the most common pain followed by headaches and neck pain.hello