Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1153082
66 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 9 } } } DEFENSE AND VETERANS PAIN RATING SCALE MILD MODERATE SEVERE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 No pain Hardly notice pain Notice pain; does not interfere with activities Sometimes distracts me Distracts me; can do usual activities Interrupts some activities Hard to ignore; avoid usual activities Focus of attention, prevents doing daily activities Awful, hard to do anything As bad as it could be, nothing else matters Can't bear the pain, unable to do anything Assessments and Findings Posture, range of motion, gait, and palpation findings can be used to measure progress. The 0–10 scale can be used to measure deviations from normal with most findings. Normal, good, fair, and poor can also be used and may seem easier when measuring multiple findings. Some electronic health records allow you to upload photos and videos and attach them to a client's chart, making progress more real. This is especially helpful with images of scars, photos of posture against a grid, and videos of range of motion and gait. ONGOING CARE Plan out a series of sessions to engage clients in committing to long-term wellness care. Here's some easy steps: 1. Identify their goals for wellness. 2. List potential blocks they have to achieving the goals. 3. Identify massage techniques that support those goals and help remove blocks. one that automatically graphs progress before and after each session and over time (electronic health records charts). Some systems allow clients access to their health record, and they can check on their progress anytime. Function seems to improve quickly compared to pain. Most people try to increase their activities—pushing pain to their threshold. In the beginning, getting through a workday may raise their pain level. As their condition improves, they may start doing more after work and on weekends before they hit their threshold. If you only track pain levels, especially when the client is fairly healthy, you may never see progress. Always track function when setting goals and tracking outcomes, for both treatment and wellness sessions. Research has shown that massage improves anxiety, depression, mood, and bothersomeness. While anxiety and depression can be considered diagnoses, mood is an all-encompassing term that stays away from diagnostic language and is more common than bothersomeness. How someone feels about their condition can have a large impact on their ability to get better. When a person is feeling hopeless, the same level of pain can be more debilitating than someone who's hopeful about getting better.