Monthly Archives: August 2022

We’ve all heard of the term self-diagnosing.

For those unfamiliar with it, though, this is simply the process of an individual attempting to diagnose or identify a medical condition in yourself.

And since the rise of search platforms, like Google, it has become increasingly more prominent.

Back in 2020, a study showed that 59% of the UK said that they Google their health symptoms before consulting a doctor. The result of that is shown in a further report which outlined that the results of searches online cause stress in 74% of people.

As a specialist in arch support insoles for a number of foot-related problems, including Plantar Fasciitis and Achilles Tendonitis, we recently looked into trending data to see what people most commonly are searching for when they attempt to self-diagnose their foot injuries.

As of July 2022, in the last 12 months there have been:

• a 250% increase in searches for ‘pain on top of foot near ankle’
• a 140% increase in searches for ‘warm sensation in foot no pain’
• a 110% increase in searches for ‘sudden foot pain without injury’
• a 90% increase in searches for ‘foot pain radiating up leg’

And according to our Director, Will Munro, it is these rises that are causing people to unnecessarily spend thousands of pounds on an incorrect solution.

He told us: “By misdiagnosing the issue yourself, you could end up treating it with something that isn’t going to make a difference. 

Alternatively, you could end up buying a bespoke product, for say £700, when really there is likely to be a cheaper product on the market that is much more suitable as well as affordable. 

Without this expert knowledge, search tools like Google may cost you time and wasted money, as well as allowing the health issue at hand to get worse while remaining untreated.” 

Let’s focus for a moment on that word: bespoke.

Quite often, we assume that a bespoke solution is the best solution. One that is tailored to the issues we have flagged. But what if those problems we raise are