KEEPING A PAIN DIARY
Why are we aware of being in pain, but cannot remember when it first started and what may have caused it.
Whilst no one wants to be thought of as a hypochondriac, it is useful to make a note in a diary of:
Keeping a pain diary
- when you feel a pain which is not normal. Where in your body it started and where it may radiate to.
- what you think may have started it, for example, did you carry something heavy, do some gardening, sleep badly or even do something mundane such as walk with a slow dog which meant you had to keep looking behind you…. Mentioning no names – Treacle!
- how you treated it. Stretching, pain-killers, rest for example.
- how long the pain lasted.
So what is the benefit of this? When I ask my clients how long they have had the pain, they say “only a couple of days”. When we actually work things out, we find that it usually started some time earlier than that, and it is only recently that the problem has become more noticeable or acute. Having an idea of what you were possibly doing when it first started, not only helps with the treatment, but also the homecare offered.
Another reason is that whilst, for example, your lower back hurts, unbeknown to you, that tightness you had in the front of your legs you noticed after gardening a week before, may have actually been the cause and we also need to work on this too.
After treatment – don’t forget to add it to your pain diary.
