Making Sense of Health Information Online
We’ve all seen it countless times on social media and health blogs:
“Exercise A: ✅ / Exercise B: ❌”
“The WORST exercises for your back!”
“If you are doing this, you’re setting yourself up for injury.”
“If you’re having back pain, you need to be realigned!”
“Sleeping on your back is the cause of all of your pain.”
“If your shoes aren’t wide enough, you’ll spontaneously combust immediately.”
The list can go on infinitely. For better or for worse, social media and blogs have become one of the top sources for people to get their health information these days. And while it can often be a blessing to have endless information at the tips of our fingers, how often do you find that you are left with more conflicting information than you know what to do with? How often do you find that social media “experts” are telling you that much of what you are doing is wrong and will lead to injury?
In the world of social media influencers, too often do the noisiest and most controversial opinions get the most attention. It’s how these “experts” get so popular on social media; they fabricate a problem (that is often imaginary), provide an overly-simplified solution to said problem (that often requires only THEIR so-called expertise to fix), and ultimately end up disseminating misinformation about health and exercise that leaves us confused or chasing an imaginary dragon in an attempt to fix our ailments.
If you’re frustrated by all of the health misinformation online, check out some strategies I’ve listed out below to help separate the signal from the noise with online health information.
✅ vs ❌
This is a common theme in the instagram world of fitness, movement, and rehab. Social media health influencers will often post an overly-simplified image of two exercises or movements, one “good” movement with a green check, and another “bad” movement with a red X. This captures our attention because it is visually captivating and, at the same time, it immediately makes us think: “oh man, I’ve been doing this wrong the whole time! I’m lucky I didn’t get injured! It’s a good thing this health expert is here to show me the right path. They sure are knowledgeable about the right way to move!”
Here’s the thing: THERE ARE NO INHERENTLY BAD MOVEMENTS. Research has proven this time and time again. Whether it be squatting with knees over toes, lifting with a rounded back, or rounding your shoulders slightly with a dumbbell lift; there is NO association between these movements and injury. It’s the movements that we aren’t prepared for and haven’t exposed ourselves frequently to in the past that increase our chances of injury with those movements.
By categorizing movements into good and bad, these influencers are creating a false dichotomy that gives them the illusion of expertise. When you see a post like this, proceed with caution.
Fear mongering
This next red flag is similar in principle to the “good and bad” posts above, but can be a little bit more descriptive.
These are the posts that make claims such as “using _____ type of shoe will lead to injury,” or “sleeping in ____ position will lead to _____ bad health outcome,” or “lifting with ________ form will lead to (shoulder impingement/herniated disc/pelvic asymmetry/etc).”
Again, the vast majority of the time, these types of claims have already been disproven in the research and you’ll likely find that they are rarely backed up with a research article supporting these statements.
This is another example of influencers making a bold and scary statement to garner more social media attention, fabricating an imaginary problem that few other than they have the answer for. If a post makes blanket statements such as these and doesn’t acknowledge the spectrum of individual variations in risk and health, proceed with caution.
Gurus and Magic fixes
I want to preface this section by saying: there can be a time and place for lots of different treatment strategies. Where one provider might resort to manual therapy and manipulations to help with pain, another may do entirely movement-based approaches, while others may advocate for pharmaceuticals or even meditation. These can all be equally effective based on the individual presentation.
Where we need to put on our “skepticism hat,” however, is with posts that seem too good to be true, or even outlandish in their claims. These are the posts where providers claim that they can cure pain by putting a joint back in place, realigning the body, manipulating organs or fascia, or healing some sort of illness by maneuvering the skull plates or tickling your feet. Not only are these claims biologically implausible, but they can also lead to consumers paying exorbitant prices for these “magic” treatments which in reality rely on the placebo effect for their proposed benefits. Additionally, they can lead to a “guru effect” where the provider frames the issue in a way that removes the agency and responsibility from the client; the client is placed in a passive role in regards to their health and starts to believe they need these gurus to fix them. This can lead to dependence on that provider rather than our own individual agency, a sense of victimhood, and a general passive mentality in which these clients feel treatment needs to be done TO them rather than actively DOING their own treatment with some guidance.
I’m not saying these treatments can’t work, but it is important to be wary of the sentiment behind the claims made in these posts. Health posts should be empowering, not eliciting fear or dependence.
Does it include references?
Last but not least, be on the lookout for references or research articles being cited in healthcare posts.
While there are MANY flawed research studies out there and it is very easy to cherry pick a research article to fit a narrative, the inclusion of research articles to support a claim definitely helps to indicate that the provider is referencing some sort of evidence before making a health-related claim. It speaks to the sentiment of the post and can at least be a gatekeeping criteria for whether or not the post may have some merit.
Even better, it gives you the opportunity to check out the research article(s) yourself to make your own opinion.
While the conflicting and confusing health information online may seem like the wild west these days, if you stick with these principles and know what to watch out for, you will hopefully have much more clarity when it comes to navigating these types of posts!
Dr. Brooks Kenderdine
PT, DPT, CSCS, USAW-1
Co-owner | The PATH Rehab & Performance
