How to Keep a Personal Injury Diary and Why (Plus, Download Your Free Pain Journal Template)

It’s unlikely you’ll forget the critical details of a devastating accident, especially if it caused catastrophic injuries that affect you months later — and might continue to do so for the rest of your life.

But as the days, weeks, and months go by, it’s normal for things to become a little fuzzy. Your brain will even try to protect you from reliving the trauma by causing you to forget details — details that can make a massive difference in how much compensation you can recover from the liable party or whether you can claim at all.

Unfortunately, personal injury claims also take time. It can take months, even years, to receive a settlement, and even longer if negotiations fail and you decide to take your personal injury claim to court. You might feel confident now that you can remember the date of your accident, what time it happened, whether it was a clear day or raining, and what the road conditions were like, but those details will be a lot harder to recall months or years down the line.

A personal injury claim backed up by facts and evidence is a successful one, and that’s exactly what a personal injury journal is — evidence of the facts.

What to Include in Your Personal Injury Compensation Journal

An impactful personal injury diary that will support an accident claim comprises several sections:

Details about Your Accident

Your personal injury diary should document the undisputed facts about when and where the accident occurred and what you were doing before the accident happened.

Details that can be valuable include:

• The quality of the road — Were potholes, debris, or obstructions blocking your path?
• Weather conditions — Was it dry and cloudy? Was there sun glare affecting driver visibility? Was it raining heavily?
• What did you see just before the crash?
• Which direction were you traveling? What about other vehicles involved in the accident?

You likely won’t start your pain journal immediately after your accident, so you may already have this information jotted down on a piece of paper or typed out in a note on your cell phone and recorded in the crash report compiled by law enforcement.

However, it can be beneficial to incorporate this information into your personal injury journal so that it is all in one dedicated place. Writing these details down can spark new memories and additional insights you might have forgotten or repressed due to trauma. If this happens, it’s vital to tell your personal injury lawyer so they can check it and ensure it does not conflict with the evidence in your case.

Our free personal injury pain journal template download includes space specifically for you to document information about how your accident happened.

Information about Witnesses and Anyone Else on the Scene

If you were in a car accident and the police arrived, this section should detail the badge number and name of the police officer who attended the scene and compiled the crash report.

You should also include the details of any other drivers involved in the accident and anyone else (such as pedestrians) who witnessed the accident.

If you were injured in another type of accident, such as a slip and fall, there will still likely be witnesses, even if they didn’t see what happened but called an ambulance or observed your injuries.

Your Injuries

You should also document your injuries, including where they occurred on the body and their severity (for example, did you sustain a few bumps and bruises or more severe lacerations?). If you have photographs of your injuries, you should add them here.

Your Medical Treatment

Even if you feel fine, you should always seek medical attention after your accident. Some injuries get worse over time — if they do, you can document this in your personal injury diary. Insurance companies may dispute when you sustained your injuries, arguing you were hurt later on in an unrelated event, so a successful claim can rest on proving you were injured in the accident. Your medical records, supported by ongoing documentation in your personal injury diary, can be invaluable.

In this section, note any scans or tests you had, how long you were in the emergency room or doctor’s office, what medication or exercises your doctor prescribed, and the medical bills you’ve incurred so far (don’t forget also to include the cost of transport to and from the hospital).

Follow-Up Appointments

Your first visit to the doctor or hospital after your injury is unlikely to be your last. When you return for follow-up appointments, record the time and date, your progress, and what the doctor has recommended next.

Ongoing Symptoms

If you suffered a brain injury, do you have persistent memory problems? Do you regularly feel fuzzy or have a brain fog that affects your concentration? Do you struggle to communicate with friends and loved ones?

Use this section of your personal injury journal to report new symptoms as they occur, including the date and time and how they make you feel. If you’re in pain or your symptoms affect your quality of life, note it down or ask a friend or family member to do this for you as you dictate to them.

Your Limitations

Are there any activities you can no longer enjoy or do? Perhaps you used to enjoy gardening, but you can no longer tend the flowerbeds or use garden tools without severe pain, which affects your mental health and well-being.

Your personal injury attorney can use information about your limitations to negotiate additional damages for pain and suffering, which can be substantial.

The more information you can include here, the more compensation you could recover. Damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment are not easily quantified with receipts, invoices, and wage slips like medical bills or lost wages.

The more detail you can provide to illustrate when you feel anxious, grief, terror, pain, embarrassment, or distress and how these feelings impact you as you go about your day, the more leverage you have to negotiate a larger settlement.

Is Your Personal Injury Compensation Journal Private?

Keeping a personal injury pain journal can be incredibly therapeutic. It provides a safe space to document your experiences, track your recovery, and process the emotional and physical challenges you’re facing. Psychiatrists and pain therapists often encourage journaling as it allows patients to clear their minds and release pent-up emotions. By putting your thoughts and feelings on paper, you can gain a sense of control and focus on healing.

However, you should also know about the privacy implications of keeping a personal injury pain journal. Your journal is a personal tool for reflection, but it could become vital evidence in your personal injury claim. If your case goes to court, your journal may be subject to scrutiny by defense counsel and the judge.

This might feel like a breach of privacy, but it’s crucial to be honest and not censor yourself or present an overly positive picture. Do not omit details you would be embarrassed to have others read — such as if your injury affects your ability to go to the toilet. It’s these details that could make a substantial difference to the compensation you are owed. However, you do not want to be crass — the focus should be on your injuries and their impact, not the language you use to describe them or opinions you have that could paint you in a negative light.

Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

• Stick to the facts: Focus on documenting your pain levels, symptoms, and how your injuries affect your daily life.
• Avoid unverified claims: Don’t make accusations against others involved in the accident unless you have concrete evidence to support them.
• Refrain from derogatory language: Keep your entries respectful and avoid using offensive or inflammatory language.

Using the Patino Law Firm Pain Journal Template

There are four forms included in your pain journal template:

1. The Accident Overview

The first form allows you to document the facts of your accident, including when and how it happened, the immediate injuries you sustained, and who else was at the scene. We’ve included plenty of space here so you can write as much as you like, whether you prefer jotting bullet points or writing a longer, stream-of-consciousness narrative.

The key here is not to overthink or censor yourself — the more information you can provide, the better. Even details you don’t think are worth mentioning could prove highly relevant to your personal injury claim, so if in doubt, write it down.

2. Pain and Symptoms

This page asks you to document your injuries and symptoms and how much pain or discomfort they cause. You can assign each injury or symptom a score from one to ten, allowing you to monitor progress over time. You should also detail where the pain is, how it affects or limits you, and how often it occurs.

If you experience new symptoms over time, such as tingling in your limbs after a shoulder accident, write them down along with the date you first started experiencing them.

3. Weekly and Daily Journals

These two forms supplement the Pain and Symptoms journal, where you can record how you feel daily and weekly.

You should include:

• The medication you take — along with the dosage and frequency
• The exercises your doctor or physical therapist has prescribed and whether they cause you pain
• Your appointments, activities, and general routine.

When you record appointments, include any conversations you have with your attorney or an insurance adjuster and note how the meetings occurred (whether in person or via phone), whether the appointment was scheduled or occurred out of the blue, and what you discussed. 

You can also use your weekly and daily personal injury diary to record whether you can return to work, which can help your accident attorney recover your lost wages.

When you can return to work, you should continue using these forms to document whether you are on restricted duties and whether your symptoms worsen. These details can help you secure additional support or reasonable adjustments from your employer if your injuries prevent you from completing specific tasks and may yield additional compensation if your job role changes significantly because of your injuries.