Pain Management Apps for Children

For children and adults with special needs, (e.g. nonverbal, developmental delays, autism, and more), expressing their desires and thoughts can be challenging, if not impossible.  Fortunately, there are several apps available to assist with this communication.

While all communication is arguably important, the ability to express and manage one’s pain is especially important.  Here is a list of apps that can assist a child or adult with special needs in pain.

Pain Management Apps

SmallTalk Pain Scale, free

The SmallTalk Pain Scale app was created to help individuals communicate the intensity of their pain.  It features many descriptions and images from the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale to better explain their pain.

(See also: Communication apps by SmallTalk.)

My Pain Diary, $4.99

With the My Pain Diary app, users can track their chronic pain, symptoms, triggers and more to create detailed reports to share with their physicians.  Within the app, users can:

• Track virtually anything.
• Learn how they are affected by weather.
• Identify triggers, remedies, patterns, and trends.
• Keep an accurate record of one’s condition for the doctor.
• Compare multiple conditions and metrics on a single, interactive graph which makes finding correlations easy.
• And more!

Pain Squad, free

Pain Squad is an electronic pain diary to help children fight their pain.  “Developed at The Hospital for Sick Children, this is an evidence-based pain diary that plays like a game…”  Users can use the app to keep track of their pain reports.  Pain reports will help users record the intensity of the pain, its location, what has been done to help reduce pain, and more.  As reports are completed, users will then be promoted within the ranks of the Pain Squad.

Achy Penguin, free

Achy Penguin offers an approachable way for children to locate, quantify,and feel empowered to do something about their pain.  The app incorporates breathing, relaxation, visualization, and distraction techniques.  “Pain is complex and Achy Penguin is meant to be another tool to help when appropriate.”