The importance of sleep quality

You ask some questions about the patients lifestyle. She says she's still active. She used to do gymnastics and later on in her life she loved to run an hour a day and regularly went hiking with her friends during weekends. She stopped doing all that due to her pain worsening.

She says that a group of her friends are organizing a 2day hiking trip for next weekend and she was planning to go with them despite her severe knee pain. You explain to her that this isn't a good idea since hiking in mountain trails and putting so much strain on her knees can further damage the joint .

You also ask her about her sleeping habits and the quality of her sleep. She tells you that she often hasn't got time to sleep because of her work and of her pain level. Sometimes she ends up sleeping up to 3-4 hours every night. She mentions that this has an impact on her daily activities leaving her tired all the time, not being able to concentrate.

You explain that sleep disturbances may occur due to pain. She can track her sleep quality and several other biometrics using either a smartwatch and/or an mHealth application for managing pain.