So much better than the awkward face images.

This pain scale is popular because it's sort of funny and sort of relatable. Ideal internet fodder. But the issue I have with this scale is the same I have with every pain scale. Pain scales are trying to make a subjective experience into an objective measure. Pain is not measurable, not like mass or length or time. Pain is complex and dynamic and strange and deeply personal. But the pain scale breaks all that down to a number, "Like describing music in terms of it's volume". This pain scale assumes that all people will react to bees the same way, which is silly. It also assumes that only a person with a great deal of pain would cry, or that a person with a great deal of pain wouldn't be able to move. Neither of these are standard or true for everyone. It's a nice idea to try and clarify the pain scale and to make it more relatable. But the truth for all assessments of pain intensity is that they are only useful when assessing pain within an individual. The scores are not comparable and cannot be generalized. Pain is personal, and always real, and while this scale is trying to simplify or clarify pain assessment, it only devalues people's personal experience.

/r/physicaltherapy Thread Link - i.redd.it