Symptom Check: How to Use a Symptom Checker

If you’re reading this article, chances are you have some areas of physical discomfort that you’d like to resolve. You are the most important ingredient in the recipe for healing. The fact that you’re here, researching practical steps to help alleviate physical symptoms, is worthy of congratulations. And, you’re in the right place. Here at BioFunctional Health Solutions (BHS), we specialize in helping people like you resolve their musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). We use tried and true soft tissue manipulation techniques that professional athletes use to heal and prevent injuries. Using our years of experience, we’ve created YouMari, a comprehensive DIY self-treatment program for MSDs, health maintenance, injury prevention, and increased athletic performance.

How Do I Use a Symptom Checker Like YouMari?

While YouMari is simple to use, it does go in-depth into your physical symptoms. Maybe you are ready to dive in, but if you’re noticing some resistance or hesitation, that’s understandable too. Thinking about your physical symptoms in detail can increase discomfort as you bring awareness to your physical body. And, if you’ve been dealing with long-term pain, it’s entirely reasonable that you try not to think about it as much as possible. Wherever you are mentally and emotionally with this process, do plan on taking a few minutes to do this. Choosing a time where you won’t be interrupted is also helpful because YouMari will be asking you some detailed questions.

Here’s how to use the YouMari symptom checker:

• Make a list of your areas of physical complaint, e.g., right shoulder, left knee, both wrists—wherever you’re feeling discomfort. YouMari will create custom programs for up to eight physical areas of complaint. Since there’s a limit, make sure you prioritize your list, so your top eight areas of complaint are addressed through the YouMari Program. If this isn’t an easy process, try the decision-making hack where you make a list very quickly, right off the top of your head. This prevents overthinking and the discomfort that comes with it. This will be a simple process if you have less than eight physical complaints. You may still want to prioritize your issues to know which exercises to do first.

 

• YouMari has two ways for you to select your problem areas. We’ll go over the human figure in this section. The YouMari program will display a 3D model of a human body, with white circles on the body over joints and different muscle groups. You’ll select the white circle closest to the affected area for the first and worst issue. You’ll do this for each problem area up to eight times and answer a set of questions about your issue.

 

• If you’d like to try another way, you can use YouMari’s list and select specific areas, like “Arm-left” or “back body-left.” Once you choose the general area, YouMari will present you with a more detailed list from which to select. For example, if you chose “back body-left,” you’ll be prompted to narrow down the location of your discomfort. You’ll be given choices such as “trapezius-left,” “calf inside-left,” or “shoulder front-left.” This will help YouMari pinpoint where you’re having issues. Each area you select will then prompt YouMari to ask you a set of questions about your problem.

 

Now that you’ve selected your first problem area, YouMari will ask you a set of questions to gain more information about your physical state.

• How long have you been experiencing the problem? You’ll be given three choices that are essentially short, medium, and long-term.

 

• Next, you’ll be asked to describe the problem, such as repetitive motion, chronic pain, or injury. You’ll also have the option to select “unsure.”

 

• YouMari will now ask you to qualify the discomfort or pain you’re experiencing. Is it burning? A deep ache? A deep ache inside the joint? Dull pressure? Sharp? Swollen? Tingling? Going into this level of detail might be emotionally uncomfortable, or it might just be hard to describe, which is why you again have the option of clicking “unsure.”

 

• Now it’s time to use the classic pain scale of 0-10 to describe the intensity of your pain.

 

• Next, you’ll indicate what impact your issue has on your range of motion (ROM). You can select no change through completely frozen.

 

• Now you’ll select if this issue has caused any loss of strength from no loss to complete loss.

 

• YouMari will now ask you what treatments you have undergone for your condition, such as physical therapy, chiropractic work, stretching, oils/topicals, OTC medications, etc.

 

• The final question concerns what helps your condition; rest, ice, heat, exercise, or nothing.

So that’s all there is to using the YouMari symptom checker. Now that you’ve explained your condition(s) in detail, YouMari will use that information to create a customized self-treatment program of stretching, exercises, and self-massage to help alleviate your issues. YouMari includes lots of tools to make working your custom program as easy as one, two, three. Click here to get started!