NE_NO_SPLIT

Skip the probe because every plausible answer leads to the same action; act on the robust option and set a monitoring trigger.

Your knee aches after runs, and you've spent two nights in forum threads trying to determine whether it's runner's knee or IT band syndrome. Step back and look at the treatments: for the next few weeks, both diagnoses prescribe the same thing. Reduce mileage, strengthen the hips, watch it.

The rule here: when every plausible answer leads to the same action, skip the probe and act on the robust option. The cue is realizing the answer wouldn't change what you'd do. Steps: list the live possibilities, write down the action each one implies, and check whether the actions match. If they do, start that action today and set a monitoring trigger for the point where the paths diverge: if pain persists past three weeks, swells, or changes character, see a physiotherapist, because at that point diagnosis would actually change treatment. What changes is that diagnostic anxiety converts into immediate correct behavior, and the research urge gets a defined off-ramp instead of another midnight forum. Don't apply it once the actions genuinely split, like a choice between surgery and rest; the moment different answers imply different moves, the question is live and deserves real evidence.