http://www.madprime.org/articles/2010/02/12/internet-empowered-self-diagnosis en-us 40 <p>People often note how the internet enables hypochondria, by allowing you to see a multitude of conditions -- some exceedingly rare -- that happen to match your symptoms. But if you don't abuse it I think it's actually quite helpful. </p> <p>I did a lot of walking today and this evening I noticed my left foot had a sore spot. I described it to Chris (verbatim, this is cut-and-paste from chat): "around my toes, on the left foot like... the joint where the knuckles are on the hand, around my third and fourth toes".</p> <p><A HREF=http://foothealth.about.com/od/neuroma/a/MortonsNeuroma.htm><IMG style="float:right" SRC=http://www.madprime.org/article_images/mortons_neuroma.jpg></A></p> <p>I kept poking at it, wondering if it was bruised inside, trying to remember if I'd stumbled and banged it earlier in the day. So I tried the net....</p> <p>It turns out this is an spot-on description of the localization of <a href="http://foothealth.about.com/od/neuroma/a/MortonsNeuroma.htm">Morton's Neuroma</a> -- weird scary name, but really a very common foot problem. My case is quite mild, I'll take it easy and let the irritated nerve &amp; inflammation relax. It can be caused by bad arch support -- I've been told before that I should use arch-support inserts, so I should get a pair for these shoes.</p> Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:29:00 -0500 urn:uuid:b67d1222-d216-4ed0-8a43-533262c2a70b Madeleine Ball http://www.madprime.org/articles/2010/02/12/internet-empowered-self-diagnosis medicine internet