NPRS · Numeric Pain Rating Scale

The most-used measure in physiotherapy and the one most often used badly. One question, 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain imaginable.

Ask it three ways and it becomes useful: pain now, pain at its best in the last 24 hours, pain at its worst in the last 24 hours. One number is a snapshot; three is a picture of irritability.

Every patient, every session, as a baseline and a re-test. It costs nothing and it takes ten seconds.

Anchor it to something. "8 out of 10 on the stairs this morning" is a re-testable asterisk; "8 out of 10" on its own is not.

Verbally administered, 0–10. Record all three values (now / best / worst) and the date.

The three-number version feeds straight into the UniSA irritability definition — resting symptoms, the vigour of the provoking activity, and the time to settle. The NPRS gives you the first of the three.

Function, interference, or distress. Two patients reporting 6/10 can be living completely different lives.

Pair it with PSFS — every time. Pain intensity plus patient-generated function is the minimum useful pair, and it is what makes a reassessment conversation possible.

Change matters more than the absolute number. A drop of about two points, or roughly 30%, is commonly used as the threshold for meaningful change.

A single high number is not a severity finding. Compare it against function, the 24-hour behaviour and the settling time before you conclude anything.