a helpful pain scale for people who have difficulty with doing body inventory or quantifying pain
0-10 Scale of Pain Severity
10 – Unable to Move I am in bed and can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room to get help for my pain.
9 – Severe My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely talk or move because of the pain.
8 – Intense My pain is so severe that it is hard to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.
7 – Unmanageable I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.
6 – Distressing I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.
5 – Distracting I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.
4 – Moderate I am constantly aware of my pain but I can continue most activities.
3 – Uncomfortable My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.
2 – Mild I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.
1 – Minimal My pain is hardly noticeable.
0 – No Pain I have no pain.
Hey this is super useful, the scale of frowny faces on the doctor’s wall really does nothing to help me evaluate pain. When my hands were really bad I knew the pain was there all the time and often impacting my ability to sleep or do things but I wasn’t sure how to translate that to numbers. Looking at this chart I think I under-ranked the pain level.