In honor of World Physiotherapy Day that fell on the 8th of September with the theme of “Chronic pain”, the Namibian Society of Physiotherapy (NSP) invited everyone to join in recognizing the day via a social media campaign.
The campaign had a tagline of “MAKE your move, CAPTURE your move & SHARE your move.” The objective of the campaign was to educate the public on the role of physical activity in management of chronic pain as well as how physiotherapists can assist in this.
The NSP started the campaign in the month leading up to the 8th of September with posts on Facebook and Instagram alerting the public on the upcoming day as well as encouraging participation on the day. Participation in the campaign required that individuals do a physical activity they enjoy in their own time and upload a photo or video of themselves doing this activity with the hashtags #worldptday #namibiaptday and #namibiamovementday in keeping with the campaign tagline.
These hashtags lead to social media pages ran by the NSP on Facebook and Instagram where more information was available on World Physiotherapy Day; videos on the role of physical activity in chronic pain management made by physiotherapists in Namibia; informative graphics from the WCPT website; as well as links to the NSP’s own website where the public could find a physiotherapist in Namibia for a consultation.
There was ample engagement in the campaign particularly on the Instagram website with several photos uploaded by both physiotherapists who are members of the NSP as well as members of the public ranging from entire families, sports players and ordinary citizens. The Facebook page received over 900 ‘likes’ in the month and the posts shared on the page had over 33,500 views. The campaign featured on pages of sports clubs in Namibia as well as 2 publications, one online and other printed.
The future roadmap for the social media campaign is continuation of this engagement with the public around different themes to both increase visibility of physiotherapy and encourage healthy behaviors in the community.
