Monterey, CA Carmel, CA Chronic Pain Scales May Not Be Relevant To Many Patients
by Richard Kuehn on 06/21/15
Chronic pain is tricky. You want to feel better but exercising without taking some type of painkiller can be a tough slog. Typically, doctors ask patients to measure pain on a scale of 1 to 10, but this unscientific method is now being called into question. One woman, Tamara Michel, who suffers from chronic pain caused by Multiple Sclerosis, became frustrated by this simple scale and asked her nurse exactly what a 10 should translate into. The nurse told her that she considered a 10 to be comparable to a toothache so bad that you need to see the dentist the same day. “Then I’m a 15 on that kind of scale,” she replied. Kudos to her for working with a team of researchers in order to develop a new way to measure pain. It focuses on how often pain prevents someone with chronic pain from preparing a meal, folding laundry, loading the dishwasher and dealing with other daily tasks. The scale was published in the Open Research Exchange’s public library and is available to researchers, patients and doctors for free. They can then adapt it so that it fits your particular needs.
