Social media for physiotherapists and chiropractors: a practical guide

Movement is easy to show on video, which gives you an advantage over many health businesses. People in pain search locally, then check whether the clinic looks professional and friendly. Your profiles should answer both questions.

Two to four posts a week works for most clinics. Film four or five short exercise clips in one session with a clinician, then post one a week alongside people and practical posts.

• Monday: a general exercise or mobility clip, with a line saying to stop if it hurts and to get assessed.
• Tuesday: what happens at a first appointment, filmed with a team member rather than a patient.
• Wednesday: a clinician introduction, with qualifications and interests.
• Thursday: a desk, sport or everyday movement tip.
• Friday: clinic news, a community event or a patient story shared with written consent.

Exercise videos are the core, but keep them general. A video titled "three gentle stretches for desk workers" is helpful; "fix your sciatica at home" makes a treatment claim and gives individual advice to strangers. Say plainly that the video is not a substitute for an assessment.

Show the clinic and the people. Many first-time patients are worried about being manipulated or hurt, so explain what an assessment involves and that they can ask questions or say no to any technique.

• Exercise clips filmed with a team member, landscape for YouTube and vertical for Reels.
• "What happens at your first appointment" carousel.
• Clinician introductions with registration and special interests.
• Workplace and sport tips, such as warming up or setting up a desk.
• Myth or fact posts, checked against what your regulator and the ASA accept.
• Patient stories, only with written consent and without unsupported claims.

Physiotherapists (UK): the HCPC's social media guidance quotes standard 5.1, that information about service users must be treated as confidential, and says that if information could allow a service user to be identified, you must not post it without their permission. Standard 9.3 asks you to take reasonable steps to make sure promotional activity is accurate and not likely to mislead, and the guidance says anything you post to advertise your practice must be accurate and true.

Chiropractors (UK): the General Chiropractic Council's 2025 social media toolkit says to get full written consent before posting testimonials and recommends letting the patient see the wording or images first. It summarises the ASA's approach: ads must not claim a guaranteed cure, claim chiropractic is risk-free or safer than other treatments, present anecdotes as proven, discourage someone from seeing a GP when appropriate, or claim to treat any condition without substantiation. If you use "Dr" or "DC", you must state clearly that you are a Doctor of Chiropractic, not a registered medical practitioner. The GCC also says chiropractors are personally accountable for everything on pages they control, whoever wrote it, and that a review may be treated as advertising.

The ASA's chiropractic advice lists the conditions the ASA and CAP accept chiropractors may claim to treat. Claims for other conditions need robust clinical evidence, and claims about conditions specific to babies, children or pregnant women are unlikely to be acceptable without it.

US: the FTC's health products guidance says health claims, including on social media, need competent and reliable scientific evidence, that individual testimonials are not a substitute for it, and that testimonials showing results more dramatic than people can generally expect are likely to be deceptive. If you are a HIPAA covered entity, HHS says you generally need a patient's written authorisation before using their health information for marketing.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check with your regulator, professional body or a lawyer before posting claims or patient stories.

Sources: HCPC: Guidance on the use of social media, checked 15 October 2026; General Chiropractic Council: Social media and digital communication toolkit 2025 (PDF), checked 15 October 2026; GCC: Reviews, testimonials and endorsements, registrants' responsibilities, checked 15 October 2026; ASA Advice Online: Health, chiropractic, checked 15 October 2026; FTC: Health Products Compliance Guidance, checked 15 October 2026; HHS: HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance on marketing, checked 15 October 2026

Keep your Google Business Profile hours, services and photos current, and post updates for new clinicians, classes or extended hours. Reply to every review without confirming the reviewer is a patient or mentioning their treatment.

Ask every patient for a review the same way, for example with a QR code at reception. Google prohibits incentives for reviews and selectively asking happy patients, and the US FTC's rule bans buying reviews of a particular sentiment and suppressing negative ones with threats.

1. Thank reviewers without confirming any treatment or condition.
2. For a complaint, invite them to contact the clinic manager directly.
3. When people describe symptoms in comments, give general advice and ask them to book an assessment.
4. Do not diagnose or recommend specific exercises to one person in public.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews, checked 15 October 2026; Google Maps user-generated content policy: fake engagement, checked 15 October 2026; FTC final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (August 2024), checked 15 October 2026

Use four pillars: move, meet the team, inside the clinic and community. One filming session a month gives you a month of exercise content.

Disclosure: this guide is published by Zolyp, an AI social media manager. Zolyp plans a calendar around your content pillars, writes and designs each post, and schedules it to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads. You start in review-everything mode, so nothing goes live without your approval. Brand Brain can hold the conditions you are allowed to mention and the words you never use, such as "cure". Zolyp does not check posts against HCPC, GCC, ASA or FTC rules, so have a clinician approve each week. Plans start at $29/mo.

1. Week 1: choose four general exercises and check any claims against your regulator's and the ASA's guidance.
2. Week 2: film the exercises and one clinic walk-through.
3. Week 3: introduce a clinician and post a community or sports partnership.
4. Week 4: reply to reviews, review which posts led to bookings and plan next month.