Measuring Your Baselines

What is a baseline?

Your baseline is the amount of an activity you can do comfortably and consistently, without making your pain worse, now or later.

This is your starting point for building up activity safely.

Why is it important?

With chronic pain, it’s common to:

• Do too much on a “good day”
• Do very little on a “bad day”
• This cycle can make pain worse over time.

A baseline helps you:

• Stay consistent
• Avoid flare-ups
• Build up activity gradually

How to find your baseline

1. Choose an activity
   (e.g. walking, cooking, cleaning)
2. Track what you do now
   Notice how long you can do it before pain increases or fatigue worsens.
3. Pick a safe starting point
   Your baseline should be:
   1. Comfortable
   2. Repeatable most days
   3. Not causing a flare-up

👉 Tip: Start at about 70–80% of what you can do on a good day

Building up from your baseline

Once your baseline feels manageable:

• Increase slowly (e.g. 1–2 minutes at a time)
• Keep it consistent

Helpful tips

• Be honest about what you can manage
• It’s better to start small and succeed
• Try to do the same amount on both good and bad days
• Write it down to track progress (see below)

Remember

Starting small is not a setback — it’s the best way to move forward safely.

Baseline for ____________________ is __________________

Baseline for ____________________ is __________________

Baseline for ____________________ is __________________

Baseline for ____________________ is __________________