Researchers search for more precise ways to measure pain

Measuring pain, one of the most fundamental tasks in medicine, remains one of the least accurate. Madison Evans was 16 when she first felt the sharp pain in her lower pelvis, pain that radiated through her back and grew so severe that some days she could not get out of bed. Pain relievers “couldn’t touch it,” she said. “Sports, social events, whatever was on the calendar had to be cleared.” The pediatricians Evans visited during her adolescence in Severna Park, Maryland, never asked her to rate the pain. Instead they told her, “The cramps are bad when you’re young,” and “You’ll grow out of it,” then prescribed the ineffective pills. She did not grow out of the pain; it continued for almost 15 years. Relief only came at age 30 when a doctor listened to her descriptions of the pain and diagnosed endometriosis, a chronic condition that affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. Advertisement Measuring pain, one of the most fundamental tasks in medicine, remains one of the least preci ... Read full article.