PR for wellness practitioners: getting quoted without breaking the rules

PR for wellness practitioners is mostly about being the person a journalist quotes: the physiotherapist explaining a running injury, the nutritionist on a new diet trend, the osteopath on desk posture. Done well, it builds trust with clients that advertising rarely buys. Done carelessly, it can put a claim, a title or a client story in print that your regulator or the advertising rules won’t accept.

This guide is for independent and small-practice clinicians and therapists: physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, nutritionists, dietitians and complementary therapists. It covers what PR can do for you, what you can and can’t claim, how to describe your qualifications, how to handle testimonials, and a simple plan you can run yourself. The rules here are mostly UK, because that’s where the clearest published guidance is; if you practise in the US, check your state board’s advertising rules too.

What can PR do for an independent practitioner?

For a solo or small practice, PR usually means four things:

• Expert comment. Quotes in national, consumer and health titles when a journalist needs someone qualified to explain a topic.
• Local press. Stories about your practice, your community work or a local health issue. Local coverage reaches the people most likely to book.
• Trade and professional press. Articles for your profession’s journals and newsletters, which build referral networks.
• Podcasts and broadcast. Longer conversations where people hear how you think and explain.

The value is credibility. A journalist chose to quote you; an ad is something you paid for, and readers know the difference. Coverage also gives you something to show on your website and profiles, and links from news sites help people find you in search. Our guide to becoming a go-to media expert as a clinician covers the expert-comment side in more detail.

How do clients choose a practitioner?

There’s little recent research on how people choose a physio, osteopath or nutritionist specifically, but there is useful evidence on doctors. A survey of 2,137 US adults, carried out in September 2012 and published by Hanauer and colleagues in JAMA in 2014, found that 59% rated physician-rating websites as somewhat or very important when choosing a doctor. Among those who had looked at ratings in the previous year, 35% said they had chosen a doctor because of good ratings and 37% had avoided one because of bad ratings.

That data is old, American and about doctors, so treat it as indicative rather than a measure of your market. The point still holds: people look you up before they book. What they find, whether that’s coverage, reviews or a thin profile, shapes the decision. PR gives them something credible to find.

What can you claim to treat?

This is where most practitioners get caught out. The UK advertising rules (the CAP Code, enforced by the ASA) cover your own marketing: your website, social media posts, leaflets and any paid promotion. When you share press coverage on your site or social channels, it becomes part of that marketing too.

For some professions, the ASA and CAP publish lists of conditions they accept practitioners may claim to treat:

• The osteopathy guidance lists conditions including joint pains, lumbago, sciatica, minor sports injuries, muscle spasms and headache arising from the neck. Claims about conditions not on the list are likely to be problematic unless the marketer holds robust clinical evidence.
• The chiropractic guidance has a similar but not identical list, including migraine prevention, minor sports injuries and generalised aches and pains. Again, anything else needs robust clinical evidence.

For other professions there’s no list, so the general rule applies: hold evidence for any objective health claim before you make it. In an interview, talk about what the evidence shows for a condition in general rather than promising what your treatment will do for a reader. And never suggest people skip medical care; the CNHC’s advertising guidance for complementary therapists says marketers must not discourage essential treatment for conditions that need medical supervision.

Can you call yourself “Dr” in the media?

Only if you’re entitled to it, and only in a way that can’t mislead. CAP’s guidance on the term “Dr” says marketers should take care not to imply they hold a general medical qualification if they don’t, and that the safest approach without one is not to use “Dr” at all. It notes the need for clarity is greatest when health claims are being made, and in 2024 the ASA ruled against an aesthetic clinic’s booking listing that used “Dr” for a practitioner without a general medical qualification.

Chiropractors are a specific case. CAP’s guidance for chiropractors says the General Chiropractic Council permits the courtesy title “Doctor of Chiropractic”, but recommends that “Dr” is always qualified in the same statement with “Doctor of Chiropractic” or an abbreviation such as DC, and that “DC” on its own is explained.

If you’re registered with the HCPC, its standards of conduct, performance and ethics say “you must be honest about your experience, qualifications and skills”. In practice, give journalists your exact professional title and registration, such as “registered physiotherapist” or “registered dietitian”, and correct them if they upgrade it.

Can you use testimonials and client stories?

Journalists love a real client story, and testimonials are tempting for your website. Both need care.

• Testimonials don’t prove claims. CAP’s advice on claims in testimonials and endorsements (April 2025) is blunt: “Testimonials alone do not constitute substantiation.” If a client says you cured their migraines, you need evidence for that claim as if you’d made it yourself.
• Get consent. The CNHC guidance says you must have the client’s consent to use a testimonial, and must hold research evidence for any claims made in it.
• The US view is the same. The FTC’s Health Products Compliance Guidance (December 2022) puts it plainly: “Individual experiences aren’t a substitute for scientific research.”
• Never fake or buy reviews. The FTC announced a final rule in August 2024 banning fake reviews and testimonials, reviews paid for on condition of a particular sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and the suppression of negative reviews, with civil penalties available against knowing violators.

If a journalist wants to speak to a client, ask the client first, in writing, and let them decide what they share. Don’t pass on details without that consent, and don’t coach them to describe results your evidence can’t support.

What do the regulators say about publicity?

Your professional regulator’s standards apply to what you say in public, not only to paid ads. A few examples:

• HCPC. The standards that took effect on 1 September 2024 say you must make reasonable checks that information you share on social media is accurate and not misleading (standard 2.11), and take reasonable steps to make sure promotional activities you’re involved in are accurate and not likely to mislead (9.3).
• GOsC. The General Osteopathic Council’s advertising guidance expects osteopaths’ advertising, including website content, to be legal, decent, honest and truthful as defined by the ASA.
• GCC. In an October 2024 fitness-to-practise learning, the General Chiropractic Council described a chiropractor who claimed online that treatment worked for conditions outside the ASA list. The claims were removed and the committee found no case to answer, but gave formal advice. The GCC’s point was that all promotional material, including social media, must meet its standard, whoever writes it.
• CNHC. Registrants must make sure their advertising meets the CAP Code, including on websites and social media.

Read your own regulator’s guidance before your first interview. If you’re in the US, check your state licensing board’s rules on advertising and public statements, which vary by state and profession.

How do you run PR for a small practice?

You don’t need a big budget. You need a clear focus and the habit of answering quickly.

1. Pick a niche. “Physio” is too broad to be memorable. “Physio for runners over 40” or “pelvic health physio” gives journalists a reason to come back to you.
2. Write a media bio and get a headshot. Three or four sentences: your title and registration, your specialism, where you practise, and what you can comment on.
3. Answer journalist requests. Services that circulate journalists’ requests for experts are the fastest route to national coverage for a solo practitioner. Our guide to HARO and journalist requests for health experts explains how to answer them well.
4. Use local angles. Local events, seasonal injuries, community projects and local health data all make stories for local papers and radio.
5. Plan around awareness days. Pick the few that match your niche and pitch a week or more ahead.
6. Prepare for interviews. Decide your key points, check every claim against the rules above, and practise short answers. Our guide to media training for doctors applies to practitioners too.
7. Use the coverage. Link it from your website and profiles, and keep the same claims discipline when you share it.

If you’d rather not run reactive requests yourself, HealthSpark’s wellness PR team places practitioners as expert sources at $300 per placement, billed only when the placement is live. Clinics with a treatment menu, such as aesthetics practices, have extra considerations, covered in our guide to PR for aesthetics and medspa clinics. And if you’re new to working with the press, start with how health journalists work.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.