Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we approach health and wellbeing. Here’s how you can use AI to better understand and manage your health—especially for issues like muscle, joint, or movement problems.

AI can help you understand your symptoms. Recent studies show that AI can be as accurate as a health professional for certain conditions, especially musculoskeletal issues. It also asks you follow up questions to give you more specific answers. You may not have thought of all the relevant questions that you might be asked by a health professional about your problem. The more details you give—like what makes your pain better or worse, how it started, and any other health conditions—the better the advice you’ll get. Many of these questions will be asked by your physiotherapist during your in person assessment, so it will help you to be able to answer these questions more easily.

AI can help guide your thoughts before you see the physiotherapist or other health professional. If you have dyslexia or ADHD, using AI can help you to make your thoughts more concise and more easily understood by the physiotherapist. You can even bring the chat you had with AI to your physiotherapy appointment and it may save a lot of time during the consultation.

Once you have an AI diagnosis, you can ask about self-management of your condition before you see the physiotherapist, but remember, it’s not a replacement for a progessional diagnosis and physical examination with a physiotherapist but it can guide you.

AI can be reassuring if you are worried that you have a serious problem. Waiting for your assessment and diagnosis can be stressful, so if you have been told by AI that ii is not likely to be anything serious, you can relax a little. Anxiety can make your symptoms worse, so having some reassurance can be very helpful. Both AI and humans can make mistakes, so use AI as a guide, not a final answer.

To protect your privacy, use AI on your own device and if you are particulary concerned you can use AI without being logged in. Unfortunately your chat is not stored if you do not log in but it is more anonymous. A physiotherapist cannot use AI to input your health details due to data protection and privacy rules, but you can discuss what you have used AI for on your device.

Ask your physiotherapist for advice. Health professionals can help you frame better questions for AI and interpret the guidance you receive.

AI is a powerful tool for learning about your health and preparing for appointments. It can help you organize your thoughts, ask better questions, and even reassure you. But remember, it’s not a substitute for a real-life health professional. Always use AI as a supplement to, not a replacement for, professional medical advice.