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Pain Severity Tool:

The first step in checking acute abdominal pain should quickly and clearly measure how intense the pain is.1 The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is used for this purpose. It features a straight line with endpoints marked as ‘no pain at all’ and ‘pain as bad as it could be’.2

Pain levels are marked along this line, ranging from 0 to 100 mm or 1 to 10.2,3

To indicate your pain level, simply mark the line between the two endpoints; the distance from “no pain at all” to your mark will define your pain level.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No pain Mild pain Moderate pain Severe pain

Pain Interpretation:
On a scale of 0 to 10, a score of 1 to 4 indicates mild pain, 5 to 6 indicates moderate pain, and 7 to 10 indicates severe pain.3,*

*The classification is based on research by Serlin and colleagues, who identified these cutoffs to effectively distinguish pain levels in cancer patients and assess how pain affects their daily functioning.

References:

  1. Falch C, Vicente D, Häberle H, et al. Treatment of acute abdominal pain in the emergency room: a systematic review of the literature. Eur J Pain. 2014;18(7):902-913.
  2. Haefeli M, Elfering A. Pain assessment. Eur Spine J. 2006;15(Suppl 1):S17-S24.
  3. Jensen MP, Chen C, Brugger AM. Interpretation of visual analog scale ratings and change scores: a reanalysis of two clinical trials of postoperative pain. J Pain. 2003;4(7):407-414.