Underwood et al used a modification of the pain scales developed by von Korff et al to evaluate patients with back pain. The authors are from St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine in London.
The instrument consists of 6 questions about the impact of the low back pain over the past 4 weeks.
Responses are from a 11 point Likert scale from 0 to 10.
Anchor 0
Anchor 10
impact on ADL
none
unable to do any at all
impact on social activities
none
extreme
impact on work
none
extreme
back pain today
none
as bad as could be
worst pain in last month
none
as bad as could be
average pain in last month
none
as bad as could be
disability score =
= (SUM points for first 3 questions) / 3 * 10
pain score =
= (SUM points for last 3 questions) / 3 * 10
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 100
• The higher the score, the more severe the disability or the back pain.
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