Fig. 1
From: Pain-Track: a time-series approach for the description and analysis of the burden of pain
Clinical application of the Pain-Track framework to describe the temporal evolution of the pain associated with a hypothetical leg fracture. No therapeutic intervention is assumed. Pain intensity is represented in the vertical axis and the range of probable durations is shown below each time segment. Since pain experiences can unfold over a wide range of periods, time segments represent different durations to ensure the flexibility needed. a Path mode: hypothesized temporal evolution of pain for a patient; b Chance mode: time is partitioned into discrete segments used to delimitate intervals when pain intensity changes. Percentages can represent either (i) the percentage of the population that feels pain at the level or (ii) the probability that the pain belongs to that category of intensity. Here, percentages should be interpreted as in (i) (expected temporal profile of the pain associated with leg fractures at the population level). For simplicity, the possibility that chronic pain develops is not depicted. Intensity and duration values are justified in the Additional File 1