Compared to more comprehensive instruments, simplicity

and ease of administration increase their applicability to clinical practice. From a measurement perspective, differences between the two see more scales are minimal although there are pros and cons for both measures. A VAS may be marginally more responsive by virtue of its greater number of response options but has been shown to be more difficult to understand for some patients which can result in more missing data. There is evidence that patients prefer an NRS and it can be administered over the phone if necessary, but there are questions as to whether it possesses ratio properties. There is considerable variation in estimates of important change on the measures but figures of 30% change and approximately 2 cm/2 points have been suggested ( Dworkin, 2005,

Ostelo, 2005, Peters, 2007). Assessment of pain intensity is fundamental to research and practice in many areas of physiotherapy (Dworkin, 2005, APTA 2001). While the subjective Panobinostat nature of pain ratings has been a source of criticism, acceptance of the patientcentred practice paradigm has highlighted the importance of such patient-reported outcomes. As with all outcome measures however, consideration of the factors that may influence reliability or validity is important. Some of the factors applicable to pain intensity VAS and NRS measures are standardisation of the question,

scale and anchor descriptors, temporal variations in pain, period of recall, and social setting (Von Korff 2000). As mentioned above, Montelukast Sodium pain intensity forms one component of the multidimensional pain experience. In particular assessors should consider measurement of the affective aspect of pain and also pain-related activity limitations. Relationships between these related domains are complex and their measurement may provide important information in assessing treatment effects, measuring course, or guiding management decisions. VAS and NRS scales have a long history of administration in clinical research and their use is supported by a considerable body of clinimetric research, scores on these measures have also been shown to provide relevant prognostic information in some conditions. Overall, VAS and NRS measures provide a simple, easy to administer, and valid way of measuring pain intensity in clinical populations. The questions and scales are easy to standardise and interpret and are applicable in research and clinical settings. “
“Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a used to subjectively quantify an individual’s perception of the physical demands of an activity. The most widely used RPE tool is the ‘Borg scale’ – a psychophysical, category scale with rating ranges from 6 (no exertion at all) to 20 (maximal exertion) (ACSM, 2010).