Acute Pain
Persona: Kim
Kim, 43, Egyptian, rents an apartment. Living with a chronic pain condition that flares unpredictably, making short, efficient digital tasks essential on difficult days.
About This Condition
Active pain disrupts focus, reduces tolerance for friction, and shortens the time available for a task. Interactions that require extended screen time, complex navigation, or repeated fine motor input become disproportionately difficult when pain is present and unpredictable.
Digital Challenges
Dense layouts, unclear navigation, and workflows requiring sustained fine motor control all increase difficulty when pain limits available attention and movement. People managing acute pain need to complete tasks quickly and accurately, with no tolerance for unnecessary steps or unclear instructions.
Assistive Technologies
- Voice control
- keyboard navigation
- switch access
Design Considerations
Minimize the number of interactions required to complete each task. Use large, well-spaced touch targets and ensure full keyboard operability. Autosave all progress so sessions can be abandoned and resumed without any data loss.
Clinical Examples
Chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), back pain, neuropathic pain