My minimum evidence standard for pain conditions, one condition at a time

The NDIS looks for the same chain of evidence whether it's deciding on access or on a support: a diagnosis checked against published criteria, the impairment it causes, what you can and can't do, and how that plays out over time. Each page takes one condition and sets out the minimum standard that evidence should meet.

It's the same method I use on every file, shown on one diagnosis at a time. The pages describe what a file contains, not what anyone's treatment should have been. Questions about your own care belong with your GP or treating specialist.

Each condition is checked against its own published criteria

Each page sets out the minimum a file for that condition should contain before it goes to the NDIS: the diagnosis checked against its published criteria, a treatment history that can be read, and function recorded over time. It's the standard I hold my own work to, and the one I think all evidence supplied to the NDIS should meet.

I'm building this into a reference for as many conditions as I can. Each one takes detailed research, so conditions are added as that research is finished. Every page names the criteria it uses, so you can check them yourself.

  • Complex regional pain syndromeICD-11 MG30.04

    Checked against ICD-11 and the Budapest criteria (IASP)

    How CRPS is classified, what the diagnosis is checked against, what treatment has been tried, and how function and flares are recorded across a day and the week after.

  • EndometriosisICD-11 GA10

    Checked against ICD-11 and RANZCOG's Australian Living Evidence Guideline (v2.3)

    How endometriosis is classified, why the amount of disease doesn't predict the pain, how diagnosis has changed, what treatment has been tried, and how a monthly pattern is recorded.

  • FibromyalgiaICD-11 MG30.01

    Checked against ICD-11 and the AAPT criteria (2019)

    How fibromyalgia is classified, what the diagnosis is checked against, what treatment has been tried, and how a diary shows a month that one appointment can't.

  • Functional neurological disorderICD-11 6B60

    Checked against ICD-11 and the DSM-5-TR criteria

    Why ICD-11's placement doesn't settle what kind of impairment FND causes, why it's diagnosed on positive signs rather than by exclusion, what treatment has been tried, and how symptoms and seizures are recorded over time.

  • Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndromeICD-11 LD28.1Y

    Checked against ICD-11 and the 2017 international criteria

    How hEDS and hypermobility spectrum disorder are classified, why the pain counts as secondary and what that changes, the 2017 criteria, and how function is recorded when symptoms come and go across several body systems.

  • Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndromeICD-11 8E49

    Checked against ICD-11 and NICE guideline NG206 (no current Australian guideline)

    How ME/CFS is classified, what the diagnosis is checked against, why a list of treatments tried shows little on its own, and how post-exertional malaise is recorded in the days after an activity or an assessment.

  • Osteoarthritis (hip and knee)ICD-11 FA00, FA01

    Checked against ICD-11, the RACGP knee and hip guideline and the Knee Clinical Care Standard

    Why the x-ray doesn't measure the person, how permanence turns on what your treating team writes about the options left, including joint replacement, and how function is recorded after weight-bearing.

  • Rheumatoid arthritisICD-11 FA20

    Checked against ICD-11, the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria and the ARA Clinical Care Standard

    Why permanence is usually accepted and function is where files stop, why “well controlled” describes the disease and not the person, and how flares and mornings are recorded.

The scope of these pages

These pages set out what that chain of evidence should contain for each condition, so the standard is public and anyone can check evidence against it.

They aren't treatment advice, and they aren't a standard your care should be measured against. Where a page names a type of treatment, the clinical content comes from a published guideline or review, and the page cites it. Nothing here is a recommendation for anyone's care, and no page gives doses, thresholds or time frames.

If you want to know exactly what your own file is missing, that's what the Evidence Audit is for. If your condition changes day to day, start with the Pain, Sleep and Fatigue Diary.