Episode 18: Social Media, Rehabilitation Science, and the New Authority Crisis

Episode Overview

Social media has fundamentally changed how rehabilitation professionals access, consume, and disseminate information. Research that once moved slowly through journals, conferences, and continuing education courses can now reach thousands of clinicians in a matter of hours. This shift has created unprecedented opportunities for professional development, networking, mentorship, and knowledge translation.

At the same time, it has introduced new challenges regarding expertise, authority, misinformation, and clinical reasoning.

This episode examines the evolving role of social media in rehabilitation science and explores the implications of a healthcare landscape in which information increasingly flows through creators, influencers, and digital platforms.

Topics Discussed

The Information Explosion

• The growth of scientific publishing and the increasing volume of rehabilitation research
• Why clinicians cannot realistically keep pace with the amount of information being produced
• The emergence of social media as a mechanism for filtering and disseminating knowledge

The Rise of Social Media in Rehabilitation Science

• How rehabilitation professionals are using social media for education and professional development
• The growth of occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology content creators
• The opportunities social media provides for expanding access to evidence and clinical ideas

Misinformation and Oversimplification

• Recent findings regarding misinformation in health-related social media content
• The challenges of communicating complex clinical concepts through short-form media
• The tendency for nuanced clinical issues to become simplified into easily shareable content

Authority in the Digital Age

• Traditional pathways to professional authority in rehabilitation science
• The growing influence of visibility, engagement, and audience size
• The distinction between expertise, experience, and content creation

The Clinical Translation Problem

• Why intervention demonstrations do not automatically translate into effective treatment
• The importance of clinical reasoning when applying information from social media
• Contextual factors that are often absent from online educational content

Influence Versus Expertise

• The risks of assigning authority based on popularity rather than qualifications
• Evaluating credentials, clinical experience, research involvement, and scope of expertise
• The role of critical thinking in professional learning

The Future of Knowledge Translation

• How healthcare experts are partnering with content creators to improve information quality
• The opportunities and responsibilities associated with digital education
• The future of evidence dissemination within rehabilitation science

Key Takeaway

Social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to rehabilitation science. It is a tool that has dramatically expanded access to information while simultaneously challenging traditional models of expertise and authority. As clinicians, our responsibility is not simply to consume information, but to critically evaluate it, translate it appropriately, and apply it thoughtfully within the context of individual patient care.

Referenced Topics

• Scientific publishing and knowledge growth
• Social media and professional development
• Health misinformation
• Clinical reasoning
• Evidence translation
• Expertise and authority
• Rehabilitation education
• Digital healthcare communication

References

• Basso, J. C., & Suzuki, W. A. (2024). Social media and the spread of misinformation: Infectious and a threat to public health. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1465799. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1465799
• Glauser, W. (2026). Influencing the influencers: How health experts are partnering with content creators to fight misinformation online. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 28, e93450. https://doi.org/10.2196/93450
• Hall, R., & Keenan, R. (2025, May 31). More than half of top 100 mental health TikToks contain misinformation, study finds. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com
• Jinha, A. E. (2010). Article 50 million: An estimate of the number of scholarly articles in existence. Learned Publishing, 23(3), 258–263. https://doi.org/10.1087/20100308
• Ozelie, R., & Knuth, M. (2025). The influence of social media on occupational therapy graduate program recruitment. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1488565.pdf
• Thomas DD, Xu L, Yu B, Alanis O, Adamek J, Canton I, Lin X, Luo Y, Mullen SP. Physical Activity Misinformation on Social Media: Systematic Review. JMIR Infodemiology. 2025 Oct 8;5:e62760. doi: 10.2196/62760. PMID: 41061255; PMCID: PMC12547344.
• Wageck B, Noal IS, Guterres BD, Adami SL, Bordin D, Fanfa M, Nunes GS. Keep posting and following social media profiles about physical therapy, but be aware! A cross-sectional study of social media posts on Instagram and Twitter. Braz J Phys Ther. 2023 Jan-Feb;27(1):100484. doi: 10.1016/j.bjpt.2023.100484. Epub 2023 Feb 20. PMID: 36870215; PMCID: PMC9995938.