Revised Pain Scales

I created revised Wong Baker pain scales with the results from the "Art of Suffering" survey. The original pain scale is incredibly limiting and short sighted. I've tried to expand the pain scale to consider a wider range of possibilities in hopes of revealing the many different ways pain is interpreted and experienced. What do you think? Which one is your favorite? (I made six versions.)

The original Wong Baker pain scale:



The Attitude Pain Scale:


The Comparative Pain Scale:


The Distraction Pain Scale:


The Expression Control Pain Scale:


The Posture Pain Scale:


The Stimuli Pain Scale:

The Art of Suffering - Survey Results

Here are the results from the Art of Suffering survey I created this week.

Thank you to all who generously participated with time and thoughtfulness!

Recall a time in which you were suffering physical pain. What words or expressions describe the experience?

What gestures or postures describe the experience?

How do you manage your pain?

What myths/ideas help you understand the role of pain in life?

Whose behavior do you admire or seek to imitate when suffering with pain?

All visuals were created using Wordle. Of the 30 people that participated in the survey, most were between the ages of 20-30 and are not currently experiencing a chronic pain illness.