R.

Joshua Ankney
Abstract
Knight, E., Werstine, R. J., Rasmussen-Pennington, D. M., Fitzsimmons, D., & Petrella,
R. J. (2015). Physical Therapy 2.0: Leveraging Social Media to Engage Patients
in Rehabilitation and Health Promotion. Physical Therapy, 95(3), 389-396.
doi:10.2522/ptj.20130432
Although people today are living longer, the number of people suffering from
chronic illness and noncommunicable disease is increasing. These individuals are
beginning to use up more of the health care systems resources and are projected to
use more than 50% of those resources within the next few decades. By getting
people to engage in their own health care via social media, healthcare
professionals, including physical therapists, can help reduce the number of people
who require these resources. They can engage in online user-generated
conversations to make each individual's healthcare more personal and tailored to
their needs. Content is beginning to appear online for specific conditions, and this is
an opportunity for healthcare professionals to become involved in those
conversations and provide useful and correct information as it is more likely that
people with chronic conditions are more likely to seek medical information online.
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) has published standards for how
to use social media in clinical practice, but there is still much room for growth and
adaption of these guidelines and future legislation. The APTA recommends that
social media interaction with clients should mimic a live session which would
include patient privacy, confidentiality, and professionalism. As social media
continues to grow and become a part of the norm, Physical therapists looking to
incorporate social media into their practice should be aware of any old or new
legislation, liability issues, changes in the scope of practice, safety, and privacy
issues. Eventually, social media use may be considered a standard part of practicing
physical therapy. This would require social media use to be taught in school and it
would also require professionals to take continuing education courses on the
subject. There is an inherent safety risk of inaccurate information and challenges
regulating ownership and privacy of available information also arise. Some of these
issues can be resolved by professionals engaging in online dialogue to offset the
inaccuracies of information and ensure professionalism in the online community.
The effectiveness of social media use in clinical practice has yet to be determined.
However, some suggested ways to measure the effectiveness of healthcare
professionals in their online interactions with the public include measuring the
number of patients enrolled in social media over a period of time, tracking how
many people are referred to a page from social media site, measuring how many
times a professional creates content over a certain period of time, and measuring
how quickly a patient recovers compared to the amount of social media used during
their treatment. Social media can be implemented into a physical therapists
practice in several ways. They can write a blog, upload content to various
communities such as Youtube, edit or create wikis to ensure accuracy and give
credibility to the page, and communicate with their patients through social
networking sites. In conclusion, the general populous is prepared for physical
therapists to engage in social media. The lack of concrete guidelines may deter

R. Joshua Ankney
some professionals, but in reality, physical therapists are provided with an
opportunity for growth, testing, and to influence what guidelines and legislation are
created. Social media has the potential to accompany current physical therapy
practices and treatment and enhance the care of patients.
Keywords: Physical Therapy, Health Care, Social Media, Social Networking, Patients,
Online