- A DIY dilemma: Self-medication or seeking medical help for finger injury?
- Rise in self-medication: Survey reveals increasing number of individuals resorting to self-help
- The case for self-care: Debate over the need to reduce reliance on medical professionals for minor ailments
To assure a healthy supply of winter greens, I planted kale seedlings in my garden on a May Sunday morning. What conceivably could go wrong?
As I dug my hands through the soil to break up any clusters, the answer came with a horrifyingly high-pitched Snap!
When I rapidly removed my left hand, my fourth finger flapped loosely. The swelling knuckle caused a dull discomfort to spread.
I searched for ‘drooping fingertip’, ‘bruised’, and ‘painful’ on a variety of reputable websites, including the NHS and significant UK and American medical institutions.
They all agreed that I had ruptured the tendon that extends from the hand to the tip of the finger: if this tendon remains ruptured, I will have a mallet finger for the rest of my life, the experts cautioned.
My comic-appearing injury suddenly felt very serious, not least because I type quickly on keyboards for a living as a journalist and have performed as a guitarist for four decades.
I also faced a problem millions of UK patients face. Should I fight for days to obtain a doctor’s appointment? Or should I go to A&E for at least a day of waiting for agony among the gravely injured, hypochondriacs, and the utterly bizarre?
Or… should I actively attempt to resolve the issue myself?
Surveys indicate that an increasing number of us feel compelled to self-medicate rather than struggle to obtain NHS assistance.
In December of last year, for instance, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that one in five individuals unable to see a general practitioner due to the pandemic resorted to some form of do-it-yourself treatment.
And a survey commissioned by the Liberal Democrats in January found that one-quarter of us had tried and failed to get a GP appointment in the previous year, and of those, one-sixth either self-medicated or asked an unqualified individual to do so.
Regarding my mallet finger, self-help seemed prudent. All the authoritative websites concurred on the key issues and available treatments.
Particularly useful was a document on the website of University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust titled ‘Mallet’s finger’.
It states: “The majority of mallet-finger injuries do not require surgery. A non-surgical approach yields satisfactory outcomes for the majority of patients.
“A splint is applied to the finger to straighten the joint.”
It is worn continuously for eight weeks and intermittently for four weeks.
As a member of the classic Blue Peter generation, I made my surgical splint by cutting a finger-length strip of plastic from an old washing-up container, fitting it to the shape of my shaky finger, and wrapping the plastic tube with adhesive tape.
Admittedly, the outcome appeared more manual than high-tech medical. Alternatively, I would have to wait a week for a GP appointment, only to be told by the doctor’s office that because my injury was incidental, I should go to the emergency room.
Then, after enduring an interminable A&E wait, I would undoubtedly be waving a week-old floppy finger injury at a junior doctor who was practically sleepwalking after spending the majority of a 12-hour shift frantically trying to save the life of an infant.
“Place it in a splint,” the doctor would say.
Several weeks passed with my finger wrapped in homemade plastic and duct tape.
On periodic inspection and cleaning, the finger appeared progressively happier, less swollen, nearly painless, and thankfully less floppy. If there had been no trace of improvement, I would have sought professional assistance through the NHS.
This sounds like desperation. But is DIY care truly so problematic?
Currently, politicians and medical authorities disagree. In response to the findings of a survey conducted by his party in January, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, stated, “We now have the devastating situation where people are treating themselves or even self-prescribing medication.”
However, a group of UK medical professionals and pharmacists have convened under the banner of the Self-Care Strategy Group to argue that we should all become less prone to rushing to the doctor for simple medical issues.
