Target participants
Urban adults in India who have managed a sudden joint injury or fracture scare for themselves or family members within the past year
The problem
Weekend athletes and parents dealing with sports injuries often panic when a bad fall happens. They face a frustrating choice between waiting hours at an expensive hospital emergency room or guessing if a swollen ankle is just a sprain. Most clinics lack immediate digital triage tools, leaving people to rely on guesswork or pay high consultation fees for basic reassurance.
This uncertainty causes unnecessary clinic queues and drains household budgets on transport and X-rays for minor soft tissue trauma. The system lacks a reliable way to assess injury severity before leaving the house. Designers need to figure out how people interpret pain symptoms at home and what information actually helps them decide when an X-ray is truly necessary.
Research question
What information cues do injured individuals and their families rely on to decide between home care and hospital visits, and where do existing symptom checkers fail them?