Why crowdsourcing treatment advice almost never works
It’s exhausting when you don’t have a system to work within. When every patient that comes in is like starting over and not knowing what to do. Every treatment is guesswork and not knowing if something will work, or why it did one time and not another. Or worse yet, why what you’ve used before flared up this new patient.
Too often practitioners work on assumptions or guessing. They base treatment on what worked for a past patient, or because a colleague said it worked on their patient.
And much of these recommendations come from Crowdsourcing for treatment advice on social media. I started a group that has over 7500 members. But I had to get away from it.
The issue is, absent using a working system, crowdsourcing is ineffectual at best, and reckless at worse. It was the same thing over and over. Tons of people hopping in offering random suggestions absent any real case history, and it was all piecemeal. It was unhelpful and only confused the practitioner who posted the original question even more. The practitioner wasn’t taught how to fish. They were just fed temporarily. But even worse, the fish wasn’t even edible. (Ok enough analogies)
Can you imagine if your patient knew you were trying some random technique because another practitioner offered advice on Facebook?! When you think about it that way it’s pretty crazy.
But asking for advice CAN be helpful when it’s done in a certain way. Asking questions on a forum is much more valuable when it’s within a system and we’re speaking the same language. You can build within a system. You can make sense of the patient when you have a base of knowledge to work from. When someone posts a history of the patient, better advice can be offered. This also helps practitioners grow and not just have a crutch. I want practitioners to ask questions and learn more than just “here try this”. It’s much better to know the why and empower them to be more self sufficient…to grow into getting the answers themselves and knowing how to find them. Offering treatment advice is much more profound in this way.
A forum works much better this way and it works extremely well on our Locals community, where EXSTORE is the system that everyone works under. Its just a more responsible - and very effective - way of running a forum.
Size doesn’t matter. Having a smaller more effective community is better. The community continues to grow, but not just for the sake of growth.
Spring is coming… eventually. And when it does, runners will start emerging again, not just the die-hards who have been braving the cold all winter. I treat a whole spectrum of runners in clinic, from Ironman athletes to weekend joggers and everything in between. This webinar is an absolute goldmine, and I hope you get as much out of it as I have.
Happy March! ☘️ This session will introduce the foundational concepts of Exstore along with a real clinical case involving the management of a bone fracture in a competitive golfer. Practitioners will see how orthopedic acupuncture can be applied to support tissue healing, manage pain, and facilitate a safe return to activity. Whether you are new to Exstore or looking to deepen your clinical reasoning, this case-based discussion will offer practical insights you can bring directly into practice.
If you know a colleague who is curious about orthopedic acupuncture or interested in expanding their treatment approach, please feel free to share this event and help spread the word.
📅 Saturday 3/14
⏰ 1pm EDT
Registration required: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/b3ElQAxqSKW4cymSEJUVig
Hi, everybody.
@Exstoreman , I have a new patient with right metatarsal pain that has been going on and off for 2 years. (65 yo female, petite.) It started with Achilles' tendinitis and calf pain, then with foot pain as the calf pain subsided. Eventually, it went away, but came back after wearing a pair of boots with slightly elevated heels. Pain sometimes turns into numbness, and sometimes numbness extends to all toes. Her Tibialis Anterior and Peroneal Longus has trigger points. There is only a slight tightness in the medial gastrocnemius and Soleus. She can lift her big toe while standing without pain. Pain is worse when she is driving. The metatarsal gel pad is the only thing that alleviates pain. (Now she has an orthotic, which she is breaking in slowly.) I treated the Peroneal Longus and the Adductor Hallucis as the first treatment. 1) How do I test these muscles (or others)? 2) Should I be looking at other muscles? FYI, she did PT, Chiro, acu, anti-inflammatory ...
@JoshuaSwart you would be proud. I revised my entire home page today for more of a story driven experience from patient perspective. I'd love your opinion. I just need to change my global header links but I feel everything else is improved and I used my photo shoot pictures for alot of it. Should look very polished soon. I have just a few more condition pages to write and I'll have felt I niched down more with 24 common MSK condition and nervous system articles that can be rotated yearly.
