You probably have seen a lot of arguments on Facebook forums and other social media outlets. I sure have seen that for many years.
In fact, I used to engage a lot on massage therapy and other health forums to slam “facts” to those who held pseudoscientific or outdated beliefs about massage therapy.
But after a few years of engagement, I realized that it was going nowhere. There were a lot of people who just refuse to change their beliefs, even when good evidence is presented.
I used to mock them, make memes to vent my frustrations, and continue to engage.
By the spring of 2015, I decided to disengage almost completely. It didn’t pay my bills; it didn’t change people’s minds. I felt I had wasted half a day with someone in another country whom I probably will never meet in person.
Recently, my friend Erica told me that she had peeked into a huge massage therapy group on Facebook, and it was filled with the same arguments and pseudoscientific topics that I used to engage in.
Nothing has changed.
This tells me that whatever science-based therapists have been doing didn’t really work.
Telling people that they’re wrong by presenting facts and data hasn’t budged the majority into thinking differently.
Because of the backfire effect, people are less likely to change their minds if you try to force them.
You’re not going to change everyone’s, and some may not even change ever.
But if you set yourself as an example and tell your story, certain people will notice what you’re doing and follow you.
Let their change happen from within.
So I thought disengaging from social media would be a positive step, but I’m still doing my part in producing better information on the web about massage and fitness and related topics.
If you’re as frustrated as I am with the prevalence of misinformation about manual therapy on social media, well, try these out.
They won’t likely bring instant gratification or results to our problem, but in the long run, it will likely pay off.
Blog about science, not pseudoscience
If you want to change the culture in manual therapy and how practitioners think, you should focus more on the science and how you communicate online than the pseudoscience.
Rather than talking about how “wrong” someone is or what’s wrong with your profession, focus on what is actually going right.
Mocking them and sharing their content are just giving them more oxygen to fuel their campaign.
Chances are, you are also promoting their content that you’re trying to stifle.
Focus on building and promoting your values in science and critical thinking instead.
Give your audience something to talk about and share, like your stories. Give oxygen to your content and allies in science and critical thinking, not pseudoscience.
Don’t just write without a strategy because Google and other search engines probably won’t find your content unless you already have some writing strategy.
One basic thing you can do is to look up a topic you have in mind and Google it. What are the questions people are asking? What topics are trending?
For example, if you Google “low back pain,” what questions pop up in the query?
Google considers most top-ranking pages as authoritative and trustworthy.
But for some broad and complex topics, such as low back pain and knee pain, some of them could be outdated. Some might not cover the topic thoroughly based on current evidence.
This is where you have the advantage if you’re already a practitioner who has been following updates on pain science for years.
Related: How to Tell Your Story With a Funnel
Reach out to the media
Journalists love stories and topics from a different angle. This gives them something new to write and publish. You can suggest an interview or be a guest writer yourself.
Dr. Mary O’Keefe and Dr. Christian Worsfold had already done this with national media where they presented the science behind back pain and neck pain.
By telling your story on a national (or even a local level), you can reach more of your audience and establish better credibility and trust.
We need more stories like these in the media to counter the misinformation about pain and other health issues.
With the help of the media, your own practice and blog will likely rank higher should they link their stories back to yours.
Make Videos and podcasts
Advertisers often use videos to market their clients’ products and services. You probably have seen them on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It drives emotions and attention, and that’s the main course of the advertising game.
So why not leverage your time and energy in creating original content with videos or podcasts?
Tell a story, like how you used what you had learned about the biopsychosocial model of pain with a patient who had chronic neck pain.
Or a story about what you used to believe and why you no longer believe in it anymore.
These videos and podcasts can also be republished or repurposed for future use. You can use these tactics to reach a broader audience or get new fans.
Remember that your stories should win the minds and hearts of your audience. Emotions are more likely to get people in action and change their minds than just facts and data.
Fitness expert Nick Tumminello’s words once said:
“Can you take action, or just sit back and complain about other’s actions?”
I decided to take action in the fall of 2014, and Massage & Fitness was born later that year.
So instead of arguing on social media, transfer your energy and focus on spreading the right messages. You might even find other ways other than the ones I had described.
If you need help with getting started, let’s see how I can help. Email me at nick@thenickng.com