Check if you have a problem
Quick Health Check
If you are experiencing a health issue, to support you to identify the problem, check the seriousness of the problem and understand what action to take to manage it, we have provided easy-to-use tools to help you.
The Tools
The Quick Health Check is an automated version of the five following tools. These tools work together to help you with your pain.
- Checklist
Answer a few simple questions to help you to quickly identify a problem - Warning Signs
Check whether you have a serious problem that needs immediate attention by a healthcare professional - Severity Scale
Quickly assess how severe the problem is - Interference Scale
Select one number to determine how much the problem interferes with your daily life - Action to Take
The severity and interference scale ratings combine to provide you with the recommended action you need to take to manage the problem.
You can use the 5 manual tools below if you prefer this approach to using the automated Quick Health Check in the top right-hand corner of the page.
1. Checklist
Check if you have a problem
If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions below, refer to the Severity scale to see whether your problem is mild, moderate or severe, and then the interferance scale and action to take table, to understand whether you can self-manage or whether you need to manage with the support of a healthcare professional.
Have you experienced any pain in the last month (you may experience more than one type of pain in different parts in your body)? If yes:
- Where is the pain located?
- Is the pain above, at or below the level of your spinal cord injury
- What does your pain feel like?
- Is the pain dull or aching?
- Is the pain burning, icy cold, electric, pins and needles, sharp, shooting, squeezing?
- How does your pain behave?
- What things make it worse?
- Is the pain related to activity, posture, does it change with rest?
- Is the pain constant or intermittent?
- Is the pain worse at night?
- Is the pain related to constipation?
- How would you rate your pain on a scale of 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst imaginable pain)?
- Has your pain changed recently or have you noticed any other changes, such as feeling unwell?
- Have you noticed any new signs or symptoms that are alarming, such as loss of muscle strength or sensation, increased spasms, episodes of autonomic dysreflexia?
- How is your pain impacting on your daily activities, mood, rest and sleep?
- Are your current medications and/or other treatments helping to manage your pain?
2. Warning Signs
Warning signs, also known as red flags, refer to clinical indicators of possible serious underlying conditions associated with new pain or worsening of existing pain. Red flags require further medical investigation and possible specialist referral, and may include any of the following:
- New pain with different characteristics or a stable pain that suddenly gets worse without any obvious cause
- Any recent change in bowel function, such as nausea, bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, bowel accidents, rectal bleeding
- Changes in your level of sensation, loss in muscle strength or a marked increase in muscle spasm
- Pain associated with autonomic dysreflexia
- Any change in bladder function, e.g., frequent urinary tract infections, bladder leakage, difficulty emptying
- A new area of skin breakdown
- Pain associated with fevers and chills
- A recent fall or trauma prior to the
pain developing.
Yellow flags refer to psychological and social indicators suggesting increased risk of developing long-term distress, disability and pain affecting your independence, quality of life and ability to effectively manage and cope with your pain on a daily basis. These may include the following:
- Alcohol/substance abuse
- Depressive disorder
- Unhelpful thoughts
- Opioid overuse/dependence.
If you experience any of these issues there may be a serious problem requiring further investigation – seek medical attention immediately
3. Severity scale
The severity of your pain can vary depending on a range of factors.
To decide on the most appropriate management strategy, use the below scale to assess the intensity of your pain on a scale from zero (0) to ten (10)?
‘0’ means ‘no pain’ and ‘10’ means ‘worst pain you can imagine’.
4. Interference scale
On a scale from zero (0) to ten (10), rate to what extent your pain is interfering with participation in your everyday activities.
‘0’ means ‘no interference’ and ‘10’ means ‘extreme interference’.
5. Action to take
This table provides a way to combine your severity and interference ratings from above scales to help you decide what level of support you may need to most effectively manage your problem.
Severity rating | Interference rating | Management strategies |
---|---|---|
Mild (1-3) | Mild (1-3) | Self-manage without support |
Mild (1-3) | Moderate (4-6) | Self-manage without support |
Mild (1-3) | Severe (7-10) | Self-manage with support from your GP or other healthcare professional |
Moderate (4-6) | Mild (1-3) | Self-manage with support from your GP or other healthcare professional |
Moderate (4-6) | Moderate (4-6) | Self-manage with support from your GP or other healthcare professional |
Moderate (4-6) | Severe (7-10) | Self-manage with support from your GP or other healthcare professional |
Severe (7-10) | Mild (1-3) | Self-manage with support from your GP or other healthcare professional |
Severe (7-10) | Moderate (4-6) | Manage with specialist support |
Severe (7-10) | Severe (7-10) | Manage with specialist support |
Note: If you are self-managing without support and your problem has not been resolved, you should seek help from your GP, other healthcare professional or involve a spinal cord injury specialist in your management plan.