The experience of pain is reported by a large part of the population and is one of the main complaints of patients who undergo physical therapy. Literature has shown that pain often appears in conjunction with other clinical findings, such as sleep disorders and sedentary behavior. Parallel to this, descriptive epidemiology has the aim of helping to characterize a population and the factors related to their health-disease process.

To characterize pain according to time and intensity in trauma-orthopedic and rheumatological patients from an Academic league in North region of Brazil.

This cross-sectional observational study carried out with secondary collection of medical records of trauma-orthopedic and rheumatological patients treated by interns from an Academic league of the Physiotherapy course in the North region of Brazil, from April 2019 to July 2024. The REDCap platform (version 13.3.0) was used for data collection and management and Jamovi (version 2.6) for statistical analysis, evaluating the frequency of types of pain by time (acute, subacute and chronic) and by intensity according to Numerical Pain Scale, which considers 1-2 a mild, 3-7 a moderate and 8-10 an intense pain, in addition to sedentary lifestyle and reports of sleep disorders in patients with pain complaints.

The sample consisted of 394 medical records. The mean age was 45.6 years old, of which 170 (42.7%) had a traumatological disorder, 157 (39.4%) had an orthopedic and 71 (17.8%) a rheumatological. Pain complaints lasting more than 3 months were considered chronic pain, from 8 days to less than 3 months as subacute pain and up to 7 days as acute pain. Thus, 179 (45.5%) people with chronic pain were identified, 51 (12.9%) with subacute pain, 9 (2.3%) with acute pain, 40 (10.1%) without pain and 115 (29.2%) with no record of pain assessment or injury time. Furthermore, 215 (54.6%) complained a moderate pain, 72 (18.3%) had an intense pain, 19 (4.8%) a mild pain, 40 (10.2%) did not complained about pain and 48 (12.2%) with no register of pain intensity assessment. In relating to all patient that presented pain (306), 192 (62.7%) were sedentary and 158 (51.6%) reported sleep disorders.

Chronic pain, moderate level of pain, sedentary behavior and sleep disorders are present in a population of adults. Besides, it is possible to confirm that traumatological and orthopedic disorder, despite do not be necessary a chronic condition, could reinforce chronic pain. The biopsychosocial factors found in Brazilian patients with complaints of pain are already debated, mainly due to the multifactorial nature of chronic pain, but there was still a lack of data in Brazil, especially in the North region. Future studies need to evaluate more characteristics of musculoskeletal pain.

The results obtained in this research help to better understand the most prevalent characteristics of the patients treated, which implies better resources for planning and improvements in the services provided, both in management and in care.