Rate your pain from 0 to 10: how to see if something helps

It is hard to remember how much it hurt yesterday. That is why it helps to give the pain a number.

The scale

0 means no pain. 10 means the worst pain you can imagine. There is no right or wrong number – what matters is that you use the scale the same way every time.

Rate before and after

• Check in the same way before you try something, for example with the same movement.
• Write down the number.
• Try the exercise or technique.
• Check in the same way again, and write down the new number.

If the number goes down, that is a hint that it helps. If you follow it for a few days, you can see whether the effect lasts.

Apps that do this for you

PFU Pocket is built around exactly this: you rate, try one step and rate again. Bearable and Manage My Pain let you follow the numbers over time.

Apps in the comparison

• PFU Pocket
• Kaia Health
• Curable
• Bearable
• Migraine Buddy
• Manage My Pain

Read next

• Best app for back pain: what should it actually do?Looking at an app for back pain? How to tell exercise programs, self-help and diaries apart, and find the one that fits you.
• Free pain apps: what you get without payingWhich pain apps are free? An honest overview of what you get without paying in 2026.

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