💛 Friendly guidance: not medical advice💛 Friendly guidance·Always consult your doctorConsult your doctor·Disclaimer
📘How to use this tool▾
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Log today’s pain level and where it is.
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Note whether you took your pain medicine as prescribed.
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Build a pain trend over time, entry by entry.
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Copy or export your log to share with your care team.
Daily tracking tool
Pain tracker.
Day 5 post-op
A simple way to log your pain each day, see how it’s changing, and spot if it’s getting worse instead of better. All entries stay on your device. Bring the trend to your GP appointment.
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This is a personal tracking tool, not a diagnostic one.
Only your medical team can tell you what pain means. If your pain is severe, rising, or paired with fever, swelling, breathlessness, or numbness. Call your GP or surgical team today, or 13HEALTH on 13 43 25 84 (Australia). In an emergency call 000 (AU) · 999 (UK) · 911 (US).
Slide the scale to where you are right now. Log once a day, around the same time if you can.
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3
Mild
0 — no pain10: worst imaginable
📋 How to rate it so today is comparable to tomorrow
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Pain swings a lot depending on rest vs. movement and how recently you took pain relief. For a trend line you can actually trust: rate it at rest (not mid-movement or right after coughing/standing), around the same time of day, and just before your next dose rather than right after one masks it.
Your pain over time
Your recent entries, with shaded bands showing mild, moderate, and severe ranges.
Mild (0–3)
Moderate (4–6)
Severe (7–10)
All entries
Nothing logged yet
Once you save your first entry, it will appear here. Try to log once a day.
Preview: exactly what will print
Built live from your logged entries above — this is what you'll get.
SAMPLE · PAY TO PRINT
✅ Unlocked on this device — printing is ready.
Print your pain timeline
The tool itself is free, and always will be. Printing your own filled-in, personalised timeline is a small $1 one-time step — it helps us keep the tool free for everyone and prevent misuse, it's not a subscription.
✅ This is the exact timeline you already see above — paying just unlocks printing it. Nothing changes.
Your pain log never leaves your device — we only process the $1 payment, not your health data. Once unlocked, this device can print anytime, no further charge.
Pain tracker, meds schedule, discharge pack, falls-risk check, chemo & daily checklists, communication board — prints on this device, forever.
About this tool
The 0–10 Numeric Rating Scale is how clinicians worldwide ask about pain. It’s simple, quick, and the same in every hospital. This tool captures that number once a day, plus a few notes, and shows you the pattern.
What matters most is the trend, not any single number. Post-op pain should gradually fall over days and weeks. If it’s rising, staying high, or suddenly much worse, your medical team needs to know. This tool flags those patterns so you don’t have to notice them yourself.
Your entries never leave your device. They live in your browser (localStorage). Nothing goes to any server. Clear your browser and they’re gone. This is a private record, for you and the clinicians you choose to share it with.
Informed by clinical guidance from NHS, NICE, healthdirect Australia, and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Full sources at postopcare.info/sources.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 0–10 pain scale?
The 0–10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) is the standard way clinicians measure pain. 0 means no pain at all. 10 means the worst pain you can imagine. There is no right or wrong number; it is your personal sense of how bad the pain is right now. Clinicians use this scale because it is simple, quick, and the same across hospitals.
How should I rate my pain so it’s comparable day to day?
Pain swings a lot depending on rest versus movement and how recently you took pain relief. Rate it at rest rather than during a specific movement or right after coughing or standing, at roughly the same time each day, and just before your next dose of pain relief rather than right after one, when it can mask the true level. Rating it the same way each time is what makes the trend meaningful.
What pain level should I worry about?
What matters more than any single number is the trend. Pain after surgery should gradually decrease over days and weeks. If your pain is rising instead of falling, staying at 8 or above for more than a day or two, or suddenly much worse than it has been. Contact your GP or surgical team today, regardless of the exact number. This tool flags those trends for you.
How often should I log?
Once a day is enough for most people. Pick a time that’s consistent: morning is usually easiest. Try to record a representative moment, not your best or worst. If you log multiple times in a day, the tool uses the highest number for that day’s trend.
Where is my pain data stored?
All pain entries are stored only in your web browser on this device (in localStorage). Nothing is uploaded to Postopcare.info or any server. If you clear your browser data, switch devices, or use private browsing, the entries will not be available.
Can I share my pain log with my doctor?
Yes. Use the Export for GP button to save a CSV spreadsheet, or Print timeline to create a clean page you can bring to your appointment or save as a PDF. GPs and surgeons find a dated trend useful. It gives them a week-by-week picture of your recovery rather than just how you feel in the room.
Before you rely on this tool
This is a personal monitoring aid, not a medical device or diagnostic tool.
A single pain number cannot tell you whether something is wrong: only your medical team can.
Pain paired with fever, swelling, redness spreading, shortness of breath, chest pain, calf swelling, or sudden numbness requires urgent review.
Always contact your GP, surgeon, or emergency services for any concerns. In Australia call your GP or 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84). In a medical emergency call 000 (AU) · 999 (UK) · 911 (US).
About This Pain Monitoring Tool
Pain monitoring is one of the most important things you can do in the weeks after surgery. Post-surgical pain follows a predictable pattern. It should generally decrease day by day after the first 48–72 hours. When it doesn't: when pain plateaus, spikes, or reverses after a period of improvement; that pattern is clinically significant. It can signal an early infection, wound complication, or developing DVT. This tool tracks that pattern automatically.
How the red flag system works
The tool watches for four patterns that published clinical evidence associates with post-operative complications: a rising trend across three or more consecutive entries; severe pain (8+ out of 10) for two or more days running; a sudden spike of three or more points above your recent average; and a reversal pattern: where pain was decreasing but has now increased for two consecutive entries after a period of improvement. These patterns do not diagnose complications, but they identify when your pain curve has deviated from normal recovery in a way worth discussing with your GP or surgical team.
The GP report
The "Share with GP" button generates a clinical summary you can bring to your post-operative review appointment. It includes a visual trend chart, your peak and best scores, your overall trend direction, and a complete log of every entry. Your GP can see at a glance whether your pain trajectory has been as expected. This takes the place of trying to remember or describe your pain verbally — which research consistently shows patients find difficult, particularly when managing post-operative fatigue and medication.
Privacy: all data stays on your device
Your pain log is stored in your browser's local storage only. Nothing is sent to any server. Your scores, notes, and medication entries never leave your device unless you choose to share the GP report yourself. Clearing your browser data or using a different device will remove your entries, the tool is intentionally simple and private.
Postopcare.info is free recovery information compiled from published clinical guidelines (NHS, NICE, healthdirect Australia, AAOS and others). Some pages include affiliate product links: these never influence clinical content.
This is general information, not medical advice. It cannot replace what your own doctor, surgeon, or hospital team tells you.
⚠ In an emergency, call your local emergency number: 000 (Australia) · 111 (New Zealand) · 999 (UK, Ireland & Singapore) · 911 (USA & Canada) · 112 (European Union & India) · or your country's equivalent. On most mobile networks worldwide, 112 also works as a backup even without a SIM card or when the phone is locked.
If anything on this site contradicts what your treating team has told you, follow them: not us.
Machine-translated by Google. Medical information may lose accuracy in translation, always follow your own surgeon’s instructions. View original sources