How to mitigate risks & enhance benefits of DIY care of non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain
My January 2026 visit to my healthcare provider was shocking: my coinsurance deductible is twice as much as last year. My health insurance company increased my premium by 25%.
Around the same time, I am doing a “do-it-yourself” repair of my Wi-Fi system. My Physical Therapy practice is a one-man shop. So, one of my titles is IT manager.
These disparate events made me reflect on how patients struggling with affordability issues are likely to choose Do-It-Yourself medical care instead of seeking professional help.
Do-It-Yourself medical care is often reasonable but needs guardrails. Patients with non-traumatic musculoskeletal injuries may be able to successfully manage their condition with Do-It-Yourself care. Traumatic musculoskeletal injuries such as fractures and tendon ruptures often require time-sensitive invasive procedures to achieve optimal healing and are less responsive to Do-It-Yourself care.
Do-It-Yourself care necessitates weighing the benefits of self-treatment against its risks.
Benefits of Do-It-Yourself Medical Care:
Obviously, Do-It-Yourself care can be less costly.
The following are less obvious benefits of Do-It-Yourself care.
Do-It-Yourself care can minimize the likelihood of becoming a victim of modern imaging technology (VOMIT). VOMIT is the occurrence of over-utilization of diagnostic imaging, leading to unnecessary treatment and costs.
- Physical Therapy: Improving Outcomes & Reducing Healthcare Costs by Reducing the Need for Imaging
- Diagnostic imaging pros & cons – be careful what you ask for
Do-It-Yourself care can minimize the likelihood of using more risky invasive interventions. Many Invasive interventions are non-reversible interventions (surgeries, injections). They carry a greater risk. Whereas, relatively speaking, Physical Therapy is a high value low risk, low-cost intervention.
Do-It-Yourself care is a patient-centered approach. Unlike traumatic musculoskeletal injury, non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain is more responsive to interventions involving behavior change and long-term management.
Risks of Do-It-Yourself Care
- Identifying the wrong problem, missing the underlying issue
- Choosing an ineffective intervention
- Applying too much intervention or too little intervention
- It is likely to take longer to achieve the desired outcome and may end up costing more overall.
Considerations to Mitigate Risks & Enhance Benefits of Do-It-Yourself care
Considerations for prompting Artificial Intelligence (AI):
- Apply a grain of salt mindset and avoid going down the wrong rabbit hole with Google and AI Chatbot.
- Ask AI for a critique of your Do-It-Yourself plan of care.
- Ask AI what the alternative is.
- If you have a pathoanatomical tissue diagnosis, ask AI what the normal time frame for recovery from injury is. Most non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain problems take longer to resolve than we would like. It takes time to change behaviors.
- Take a moment to self-assess, check whether you are likely to have overconfidence bias.
Considerations for monitoring & adjusting Do-It-Yourself care.
The following are previous blog posts describing the process of monitoring and adjusting the intervention to achieve optimal outcomes. Not too much, not too little, just right.
Orthopedic Surgery is not always necessary – coper vs noncoper
Adjusting the exercise load to manage musculoskeletal pain syndrome
Pain – What does it feel like? How this information can guide intervention
Consider a Hybrid Approach:
Consider a hybrid approach connecting with a healthcare professional for oversight and monitoring of Do-It-Yourself care.
When healthcare costs, out-of-pocket expenses (coinsurance, copayments, or deductibles) are not affordable, explore self-pay options. Self-pay for health care can facilitate autonomy, transparency, and the ability to negotiate costs.
Telehealth visits cost less than in-person visits.
Take advantage of electronic medical patient portals, email communication with health care professionals for oversight and monitoring of your Do-It-Yourself care.
Ask for a second opinion of human health care professional on your Do-It-Yourself plan of care.
If your self-assessment and query to AI have determined a low probability of a serious medical explanation for your non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain, choose to see a Physical Therapist first. A visit to a primary care provider to get a referral to a physical therapist costs time and money. Physical Therapists are well-suited to provide less risky non-invasive options to manage the cause of non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain syndromes.
Considerations for when to switch from Do-It-Yourself to consulting a professional.
I did a small survey of Physical Therapy peers and asked the following question. When seeing a patient under direct access to Physical Therapy services, who is NOT demonstrating improvement in signs &/or symptoms, how many Physical Therapy visits/sessions would you provide before you would refer the patient to another healthcare professional for a consultation?
My peers and I reached a consensus: 3 strikes, and you're out, unless there are mitigating circumstances.
Three attempts to Do-It-Yourself before seeking professional help seems reasonable. If you do not see measurable improvement, it is time to ask for help.
Back to my attempts to do Do-It-Yourself Wi-Fi signal repair. I did solve the problem. However, I violated my 3 strikes, you're out rule. I must have taken half da ozen attempts to resolve the problem. Whereas non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain problems often take weeks to months to resolve. Internet Wi-Fi problems should not take weeks to resolve. I purchased the incorrect replacement parts. My queries with YouTube University went down the wrong rabbit holes. I should have called an IT professional sooner.
Rising healthcare costs are pushing patients toward Do-It-Yourself care, which can be appropriate for some musculoskeletal conditions—but only with clear safeguards.
The information on this website is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You are encouraged to perform additional research regarding any information available through this website, with other sources, and consult with your physician
