I think pain levels are subjective to tolerance. I used to do depositions where the accident victims would routinely be asked "On a pain scale of 1 to 10, where are you at now?" Invariably they would state something between 8 and 10. I did an inward grimace at that because, for me, my 10 pain level was when they did a uterine biopsy on me without any anesthesia whatsoever. Yeah, when every fiber of your body is screaming because your guts are being ripped out. It was surreal as a cadre of nurses held me down.** How in the h*ll was William Wallace even able to scream "Freedom" coherently? The person sitting across the table from me during the depo is calmly sipping coffee and taking notes... Not something you can readily accomplish when being eviscerated.
I'm not intending to mitigate other's feelings relaying this story, just that numerics on the whole being bantied about make me cringe.
**Happy to say the doc performing his duties in such a barbaric way no longer practices in my state. Needless to say, this episode has not warmed me up to wanting to visit doctors with any frequency or regularity. Glad I'm of healthy stock!