Tracking Your Pain

It can be hard to remember the details every time you have pain. Keeping a record can help identify patterns over time. Fill in this journal or tracking tool as often as you need to, even multiple times a day.

This information can help you talk about the pain with your healthcare team. Together, you can make a pain management plan that lets you stay active and engaged in what matters most to you.

Use this tool to track information such as:

• when, where, and how long you feel pain

• how severe the pain is

• what helps you feel better

• anything else you may notice

Make a note of any pain medications and non-drug techniques you use to relieve pain.

Keeping track of what works and what doesn’t can help your healthcare team adjust your pain management plan.

Your doctor may ask you to describe your pain in terms of intensity (how strong it feels) and interference (how much it keeps you from doing the things you want to be doing).

Along with a numerical rating scale (0-10) for measuring pain intensity, your doctor may use a functional pain scale to see how much your pain interferes with daily life.

A low pain interference score represents milder pain that is distracting, tolerable, and may only interfere a little bit with some activities.

Higher numbers represent severe pain that significantly interferes with your daily life and keeps you from doing some or all activities.