Sometimes it’s difficult to get an accurate picture of our pain and what might be triggering it. Particularly for those of us experiencing chronic pain, a pain and activity diary can be a good option to uncover a deeper understanding of your pain experience.

The purpose of a pain diary is to monitor your pain throughout the day and see if there is any relationship with your activity. Studies have found that when people keep a pain log, the data recorded throughout the day suggests lower levels of pain than when a physician asks that person to recall previous pain levels. This is because we tend to report our pain to be higher than what we actually experienced. This is important because if we are perceiving our pain to be higher, then it likely will feel worse! The magic of the activity diary is that it helps us to keep our pain in check, we have data to refer to and monitor our progress, instead of trying to remember in a way that may not be accurate.

The second advantage of keeping a diary is that you may find a specific activity that is triggering to your pain. Maybe every time you drive for more than 1hr or walk for a prolonged duration your pain worsens. By having this information, you can modify your activity in the short term to prevent irritation and pain.

Addressing chronic pain can be very challenging, so we want to deeply understand the specific things impacting you throughout the day, to make small, sustainable changes to help you feel better.

Keeping an activity diary has been found to increase therapy effectiveness, reduce pain, and prevent a decline in physical performance. Grab a pen and paper or pull up a note in your phone and record your data every hour of the day. It is important to record your pain and activity frequently throughout the day, and not only when you are experiencing pain, to have the full picture. You may find that your pain free windows get longer and longer!

Here is one example of a pain and activity diary but feel free to modify it to suit your individual needs!

Date Time Daily Steps Activity Performed Pain level – 1-10, with 10 being worse Notes
8am
9am
10am

MSK-0031 Rev A

Resources

Effects of using activity diary for goal setting in occupational therapy on reducing pain and improving psychological and physical performance in patients after total knee arthroplasty: A non-randomised controlled study (nih.gov)

Comparing Diary and Retrospective Reports of Pain and Activity Restriction in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Pain Conditions (nih.gov)