Table 8.

Classification of chronic post-operative pain persisting 3 months after surgery [28]

Pain class	Definition
No pain	No discomfort experienced
Mild pain	Was defined to the patient as an occasional pain or discomfort that did not limit activity, with a return to prehernia lifestyle
Moderate pain	Was defined as pain preventing return to normal preoperative activities (i.e. inability to continue with prehernia activities such as golf, tennis and other sports, and inability to lift objects, without pain, that patient had been lifting before the hernia occurrence)
Severe pain	Pain that incapacitated the patient at frequent intervals or interfered with activities of daily living (i.e. pain constantly present or intermittently present but so severe as to impair normal activities, such as walking)