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communication and report regarding the (
i
) incidence, (
ii
) duration, and (
iii
)in-
tensity of pain as well as the (
iv
) relief due to therapies [17]. There are diverse
internationally accepted scales to measure pain [2, 10]. Unidimensional and mul-
tidimensional pain assessment mechanisms differ for the first being mostly related
to pain intensity measurement meanwhile the second being simultaneously related
to intensity, incidence and duration both of physical and psychological experiences.
Nevertheless, pain assessment involves several levels of imprecision and uncertainty
concerning both the subjectivity of pain perception and accuracy in mechanical or
electrical devices. Despite being better known and applied, classic (Aristotelian)
unidimensional pain scales still generate many controversies when interested in rep-
resenting the subjectivity of their classification for the predictive indication of more
effective treatment [13]. Classic (Aristotelian) multidimensional pain scales are also
not able to assess the degree of the pain in terms of subjectivity and vagueness in-
herently present in reports and measurements. The objective herein is to develop a
pain assessment mechanism based on previous fuzzy unidimensional pain scales [3]
and fuzzy multidimensional professional-social-sexual scale [4] for being employed
with any class of musculoskeletal pain assessment. The proposed approach advan-
tages of being simultaneously, or not, employed with visual analog scale (VAS),
numerical rating scale (NRS), face pain scale (FPS) and its fuzzy counterpart, i.e.,
fuzzy visual analog scale (FVAS), fuzzy numerical rating scale (FNRS), fuzzy face
pain scale (FFPS) as measured input. The fuzzy qualitative pain scale (FQPS)
is employed to compose a
n
-dimensional fuzzy input-output mapping for being
employed in musculoskeletal clinical analysis and assessment, classification, and
treatment.
24.2
Fuzzy Pain Assessment
To measure and classify pain constitutes a challenge to researchers worldwide
mainly when taking into account the subjectivity, complexity and multidimension-
ality characteristics concerning such an unpleasant experience.
The more accurate is the pain assessment the more real is the description of its
severity and also the appropriateness of a therapy for relief. Unidimensional pain
scale has the advantage of easy applicability and low cost. Examples of classic
(Aristotelian) unidimensional pain scales are visual analogue scale (VAS), numer-
ical pain scale (numerical rating scale) (NPS), qualitative pain scale (verbal pain
scale) (QPS); and face pain scale (FPS). Multidimensional pain scale, on the other
hand, advantages of achieving greater scope for evaluating different levels of pain,
embracing as sensory as affective qualities, as well as location and intensity [2].
Classic (Aristotelian) multidimensional scale is exemplified as McGill Pain Ques-
tionnaire. Nevertheless, such classic scales still generate much discussion and dis-
agreement concerning the subjectivity of their classification in the evaluation of
predictive degree of pain to achieve the most effective clinical analysis and assess-
ment, classification, and treatment [3, 4, 13].
