How bad is your arthritis pain?

Use this chart to help describe to your healthcare provider how and when it hurts.

Shot of a young woman having her leg examined by a doctor

Updated on October 5, 2022.

Does your healthcare provider (HCP) have a good idea of how your arthritis pain affects your everyday life?

Pain is often hard to describe. And pain affects each of us differently. But if your HCP doesn't fully understand how your pain is affecting you, it could lead to undertreatment—which means you don’t get the care you need to help navigate the tasks of everyday life.

To enhance your conversation with your HCP and help ensure that you're providing enough feedback to create an effective treatment plan, try using this downloadable and printable arthritis pain scale. You can use it to rate the pain you experience with a variety of daily activities and share this information with your HCP in a clear and easy to read format.

This pain scale is a good way to check in with yourself about how your pain may be affecting your life and to prepare for your HCP next appointment. Just remember that many HCPs who specialize in treating arthritis—such as orthopedists and rheumatologists—use more detailed scales that are usually completed online before an office visit. Your HCP will let you know exactly how they’d like you to track and measure your pain, but you can get started on that process today.

More On

4 questions to ask your healthcare provider about ankylosing spondylitis

video

4 questions to ask your healthcare provider about ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disease that impacts your joints and can cause some of the small bones in your spine to fuse. Here are four ...
Can exercise reduce arthritis pain?

video

Can exercise reduce arthritis pain?
Exercise can reduce the pain from arthritis, both in the short term and over time, as strength is developed. Rheumatologist Natalie Azar, MD, discusse...
How Can You Help a Patient Worried About Arthritis Treatment?

video

How Can You Help a Patient Worried About Arthritis Treatment?
Ideally patient education is part of the treatment plan for arthritis, says rheumatologist Paula Rackoff, MD. In this video, she describes her approac...
3 steps to treat arthritis in your knees

video

3 steps to treat arthritis in your knees
Arthritis often means living with chronic knee pain. Learn how to pamper arthritic knees, starting with strength training.