Self Assessing/Self Diagnosing Musculoskeletal Conditions

Three words: don’t do it!

With the advent of the internet, an avalanche of information has become available to the general public about medical conditions. This is good (if not always reliable) – the more information we have about a condition, the wiser the choice of treatment we can make. As we become more experienced with our bodies and accumulate more of this information, however, it is very tempting to try to self assess and self diagnose a problem. This is unwise for many, many reasons. Depth of understanding, experience, and objectivity are three of the most important reasons not to attempt this. The health professionals testing you have spent years studying the body within their scope of practice, most with graduate degrees focused on their specialty. Then they have had a great deal of experience interpreting what your history, signs, symptoms, and test results mean. Finally, they strive to be objective and their opinion is not tainted by personal feelings about the subject, which is unlikely we can do to ourselves, although many people think they can. Even the most learned and experience physician in a particular field will seek the opinion of another physician about his own conditions if they are wise.

Be wise. If you are experiencing pain, see the appropriate health care professional.