Visual Analog Scale

• A visual analog scale, or VAS, rates the patient's pain as a point on a graph, according to the Pain Research Center at the University of Utah.
  
  

Verbal Rating Scale

• A verbal rating scale, or VRS, asks patients to describe their pain in words. The Pain Research Center lists a 5-point scale from "no pain" to "very severe pain" as one example.
  
  

Numerical Rating Scale

• Patients use a numerical rating scale, or NRS, to assign a number to their pain level, according to the Pain Research Center.
  
  

EPCA-2

• The eOrthopod website mentions the Elderly Pain Caring Assessment, or EPCA-2, as a scale for patients who cannot speak. Health professionals rate facial expressions and body language on a scale from 0 to 4.
  
  

Other Methods

• Other types of scales use pictures of facial expressions, numbers in a grid of boxes, or ratings of the pain's impact on everyday tasks.