classification by nature

Last reviewed 01/2018

Anyone who has tried to describe a pain that they have experienced themselves knows how difficult it is to put the experience into words. As in any aspect of history, the words used in the description are of most value when they are volunteered in response to an open question such as asking the patient to descibe the pain. The more closed questions asked, and the more clinicians the patient has talked to since the pain, the less significant the description in words.

Descriptions of pain include:

• colicky pain
• nagging, grumbling pain
• stabbing
• burning, boreing
• gnawing
• aching