Clinical Review
Evaluating Correlation of Two Pain Scales in Spinal Procedures
Fed Pract. 2010 May;27(5):24
Author and Disclosure Information
David E. Fish, MD, MPH, Paul C. Lee, MD, Ashna Parti, MD, and Quynh Pham, MD
Dr. Fish is an associate clinical professor in the department of orthopaedics and Dr. Pham is an assistant professor, both at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Lee is a resident physician and Dr. Parti is a former resident physician and graduate, both of the UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (UCLA/VAGLAHS) multicampus physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training program. In addition, Dr. Pham is the program director of the UCLA/VAGLAHS pain medicine fellowship and physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training programs.
The Visual Analog Scale and Verbal Numeric Rating Scale are valuable tools to assess pain intensity in certain groups of patients. This study explores whether these scales can be used interchangeably in patients who are undergoing spinal intervention for chronic pain.