Medical history to assess chronic pain
Your health professional will obtain your medical history by asking questions related to:
- Your general medical history, past illnesses, and overall health.
- Your pain: how long it has lasted, whether you have had it before, how it was treated, and what relieves your pain.
- Describe your pain: where, how severe, how often?
- Do any movements or activities make it better or worse?
- Do you have burning sensations, a pins-and-needles feeling, or shooting pain?
- What medications or other treatments have you tried? Were they effective? Any side effects?
- Your family history of chronic pain: whether other members of your family have had it and how it was treated.
- Prescription and non-prescription medications that you are taking.
- Any history you have of alcohol or drug dependence.
- Any complementary or alternative medicine therapies that you are using or have tried including supplements, such as herbs.
| Author: | Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH | Last Updated: May 28, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Nancy Greenwald, MD - Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Brian D. O'Brien, MD - Internal Medicine | |
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