We knew Michel Cymes, the cathodic otolaryngologist who became a multimillionaire thanks to his shows, his books and his conferences on health. Now it’s the turn of physiotherapists who step into the spotlight and enter the arena of content creation on social networks with their tutorials to relieve pain, work on flexibility or find the motivation to exercise. All of this in a light tone, playing the close card. Sometimes for the worse.
“I have to be the only influencer you can arrange a face-to-face meeting with on Doctolib.”, laments Major Mouvement (776,000 followers), whose real name is Grégoire Gibault, in a video in which he explained the reasons for his professional break in June. The reason put forward: fans, often with no real symptoms, arriving at his office to meet him, like someone rushing to a thaumaturge guru. “Some patients simply look at the number of followers; for them it is a sign of trust, it is worth more than diplomas. Sometimes they are in so much pain that they trust me blindly.”he regrets.
Overwhelmed by the enthusiasm he felt he aroused against his will, within a few years he went from working as an ordinary physiotherapist in a practice in Toulouse to becoming a columnist on Antidote, the health talk show created by Michel Cymes via France 2 and content creator on YouTube and Instagram, networks on which he receives eight million views each month. His first book, 10 keys to a healthy body, published by Marabout in 2020, has sold more than 180,000 copies. After a five-month break, he resumed his work in the office, where he now practices “without a contract” (a decision he justifies by the duration of the procedure: an hour and a half compared to the thirty minutes planned). according to convention) at 120 euros per session. “When influencer physical therapists stop practicing, they lose their legitimacy”assures Goulven Cornec, his agent, co-founder of the influence agency Fraich’Touch, which helps professionals deal with notoriety and guarantee them a viable economic model.
Remove taboos
No more prehistoric forums or the frightening conclusions of Doctissimo. To talk about health and eliminate taboos, social networks are now one of the primary channels. Two billion pieces of content viewed on YouTube in 2021 were health-related, including: “Feel good in your body: Relieve your pain through exercise” by Monsieur Clavicle; “My little routines: sexuality without stress and without complexes”, by Estelle Bertrand, known as “Estelle Kiné”; “In the perineum we trust”, by Sab, ex-Princess Périnée… The social network has also launched YouTube Health, a community of recognized YouTubers who, in collaboration with the British authority National Health Service, distribute medical content to prevent “fake”. “fight medicine” and “fake news” in the health sector. In January, the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered several influencers in the field, including French physiotherapists, to discuss the relevance of medical popularization on the Internet. “It is a transprofessional phenomenon, there are content creators among doctors, dentists, gynecologists… But the most visited in France is a physiotherapist, that is Major Mouvement.”explains Frédéric Srour, physiotherapist elected to the Council of the Order of Masseurs-Physiotherapists and responsible for ethics.
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