Self-treatment is the process where you help yourself in some way when dealing with a physical ailment. Another term for self-treatment is self-medication. You do this any time you take over-the-counter medication or treatment. While there is a spectrum of healthy and unhealthy self-treatment, for many people, self-treatment is their only or best option. And, if paired with professional help, like BioFunctional Health Solution’s (BHS) YouMari program for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), many people see positive results.
What is Self-Treatment?
Here are some examples of how you might self-medicate or self-treat.
- A classic example is if you have a headache and take a couple of aspirin or ibuprofen.
- Drinking a ginger ale if you are nauseous.
- Doing some stretches if your back is sore.
- Self-massage for neck pain.
- Purchasing aloe vera gel for sunburn.
Sometimes self-treatment is hybridized, such as seeing a professional physical therapist or chiropractor and being prescribed exercises to do at home.
Where Can I Get a Personal Self-Treatment Plan?
Here at BHS, we are the leader in effective workplace wellness solutions. A widely assessable self-treatment program was the next logical step for us. We know that employees often choose self-treatment over going to the doctors or in addition to medical care. We also know that employees can receive medical care that does not adequately address their problem. We’ve taken our decades of knowledge about musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their effective treatment and applied it to a self-guided, self-treatment program called YouMari.
YouMari gives you professional-level support for your self-treatment plan. After inputting your information, YouMari will provide you with a self-guided, self-treatment plan that you can complete at your own pace. Signing up is simple and done in five easy steps.
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Create Your Account
This step is very straightforward. You simply enter an email address, or you have the option of signing in with Gmail or Facebook. You can also continue as a guest, but you’ll need to create an account to receive your personalized program. To have an easier time, go ahead and create an account at the beginning. If you choose to create one at the end of your assessment, you’ll lose your customized information.
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Enter Your Goals
YouMari works with three different goal sets. One is to improve strength, flexibility, and performance. This is for a healthy individual who perhaps is competing in athletic events and is looking to optimize their performance. The second goal set is to prevent injuries and maintain physical health. This goal is for people who are physically active but may be trending towards sedentary or aren’t competing in athletic events. And finally, YouMari has a goal for resolving pain and range of motion issues. You can prioritize these goals based on your individual needs and preferences.
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Describe Your Symptoms (if you have any)
If you have muscular or skeletal pain symptoms, this step allows you to describe them. YouMari displays a three-dimensional human figure and will enable you to select your problem areas. As you choose your areas of pain or limited range of motion, YouMari will prompt you to select pain levels, the types of pain, its impact on strength and range of motion, what you do to help treat the issue and specific ways (ice, rest, exercise, etc.) that help your problem.
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Complete Your Custom Program
Next, YouMari takes you to the program page. Each physical issue you listed will have a suggested program. For example, if you have chronic neck pain, your program will have a series of neck exercises and stretches. These exercises are demonstrated through videos, so you have someone guiding you for as long as you need. Some of the programs require the use of tools, like exercise steps or golf balls. You will be given a complete list of recommended tools for your program, including links to purchase the products online if you don’t already have them. This part of YouMari contains other valuable tools that will support you in completing your program. This includes setting up a calendar so your exercises are scheduled for each day and email reminders. Once you’ve done your exercise program for the day, you can mark each activity complete. As you’re doing your exercises, YouMari will check in with you to see how easy or hard the exercise was for you. This will help to customize your treatment plan as you advance. You can also choose a list view if the calendar view isn’t convenient.
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Measure Your Success
YouMari will log all of your exercise sessions and help you monitor your progress and success. You will have the option of creating new programs as you make progress toward your goals.