®Your diary
Record today
How bad is your pain? (0 = no pain, 10 = the worst pain you can imagine)
Where?
Your sleep last night
How active were you today?
No entries yet. Add your first entry using the form.
Your entries are stored only on this device; they are not sent anywhere.
Why keep a diary?
- Pain changes during the day and from day to day, while memory often holds on to the worst days. Your entries give you a more balanced picture.
- It makes it easier to notice patterns between your sleep, your activity and your pain that are specific to you.
- It gives you something concrete to go on when discussing whether your treatment or exercise programme is working.
How to use the 0–10 scale
- 0 means no pain at all; 10 means the worst pain you can imagine.
- Think about your pain over the whole day, not a single moment.
- Use the same yardstick every day; the change matters more than the numbers themselves.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I fill in the diary?
Filling it in once a day, at roughly the same time each day, makes comparisons easier. It doesn’t matter if you miss a day; if you save another entry for the same day, that day’s entry is updated.
Where is my data stored?
Only on this device, inside your browser; nothing is sent to any server. If you clear your browser data or use another device, the entries will not appear. You can download your entries as a CSV file and keep them.
How much does my pain need to drop to count as a meaningful improvement?
In a study using data from 2,724 people with long-term pain, an average drop of 2 points, or about 30%, on the 0–10 scale matched people feeling meaningfully better. This is an average; what matters for you is what changes in your daily life.
What should I do if my pain gets worse?
See a doctor if your pain is new, getting steadily worse, or comes with other symptoms. In the guides in the Health library you can find, for each condition, when to seek help without delay.
You can read how pain arises on the understanding pain page, and about pain during exercise in the pain during exercise traffic light.
Sources
- Farrar JT, Young JP Jr, LaMoreaux L, Werth JL, Poole RM. Clinical importance of changes in chronic pain intensity measured on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale. Pain. 2001;94(2):149–158.