How to measure pain objectively?

[curiousman]

Hi!

Are There other Objective Measures for Pain?

Although we haven't yet come up with a cure for pain, we have long effective treatments such as opioids or acupuncture. However, when it comes to being able to evaluate pain based on solely subjective complaint from a patients, without objectively identified and measured (no signs of trauma) but just what the patient mentions.

We've got pain scales or functional magnetic resonance imaging where doctors predict how much physical pain people are feeling by looking at images of their brain scans. However it seems to be not fully reliable (yet).

That's the reason of why I'm wondering if there are any other objective techniques to measure pain apart of the above.

Thanks,
CM

 

[berkeman]

See my reply in an old thread here: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/measuring-pain.867286/#post-5445863

 

[curiousman]

Thank you. Do you consider the pain scale an objective way to measure pain? As you already pointed out, if you never felt pain before, the pain scale is not reliable.

 

[berkeman]

Thank you. Do you consider the pain scale an objective way to measure pain? As you already pointed out, if you never felt pain before, the pain scale is not reliable.

It is a very standard tool in medicine and especially in EMS. As long as you ask the follow-up questions, it can be a very good indicator of pain level. Also, if you become familiar with using it, you will be able to interact with doctors, nurses and medics more easily.

There are also visual aids that I've seen in some doctor's offices to help patients understand the scale. Especially with little kids or if there is a language barrier, using the simple facial expressions along with the numbers can help...

http://wongbakerfaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/FACES_English_Blue1.jpg

 

[Fervent Freyja]

I have heard of EEG being used to assess for pain levels. In diagnostic tools, there has to be a balance between reliability and effectiveness. EEG is more effective, being more affordable and accessible, than MRI. Safer.

This is a great topic and question. Assessing pain levels when controlled substances are potentially part of long-term therapy do need more reliable diagnostic methods. More tools like this need to be developed instead of forcing medical providers to rely on self-reporting alone, such as when the circumstances are outside of trauma care. A pulled tooth or broken bone shouldn't be a big deal in self-report pain assessment, the standard prescriptions and therapies are already set for that.

I recall there are many programs currently working on combating the opioid epidemic, so we may look forward to seeing better tools and pain assessment methods being developed soon. There are probably some better tools in the works already!