Advertise a physiotherapy, osteopathy or chiropractic clinic

Your website, leaflets, social media posts, online directory listings and Google Business Profile are all advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) applies the CAP Code to them across the UK. The rules cover what you say about treatment results and who you say is giving the treatment.

Check your copy against these rules when you write a first website or leaflet, or before you add a new treatment to your marketing. For the general rules that apply to every business, see Marketing and advertising law.

How the rules apply to clinic adverts

Rules 12.1 and 12.2 in section 12 of the CAP Code matter most. Rule 12.1 says objective claims must be backed by evidence, which where relevant means trials conducted on people. Rule 12.2 says you must not discourage essential treatment for conditions that need medical supervision.

For each profession, the CAP Executive publishes advice on the claims it expects the ASA to accept. That advice is not law and does not bind the ASA. The ASA decides each complaint on the evidence you hold. If it upholds a complaint, it can require you to change or withdraw the advert.

What you can claim

The table sets out the claims CAP expects to be accepted for each profession, with the dates of the advice pages and the position on babies, children and pregnant women.

Reading the lists

A claim marked as accepted is likely to be accepted. It is not guaranteed. The claim must still be truthful, and the limits in the table apply, such as pain not arising from injury. Keep your wording close to the wording in the table. Widening it, for example from mechanical neck pain to all neck problems, moves you outside the list.

A claim marked as not listed for your profession is not banned. It needs its own documentary evidence, most likely clinical trials, under rule 12.1. The same applies to any condition that appears on no list.

The lists differ between professions. If you employ or host practitioners from more than one profession, write each service page against the list for the profession that gives the treatment. Do not copy the physiotherapy claims onto a chiropractic page, or the reverse.

Serious medical conditions

Rule 12.2 does not stop you from mentioning serious conditions. It stops you from offering specific advice on, diagnosis of or treatment for them unless a suitably qualified health professional supervises it. The CAP physiotherapy advice adds that, because physiotherapists are regulated by statute, claims about serious conditions are likely to be acceptable if you hold strong evidence that the treatment works.

Do not write copy that suggests a patient can stop or avoid medical care. Where a patient may have a condition that needs medical supervision, say that you refer them on.

Titles in your adverts

Advertising rules and title rules work together. If you name someone as a physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor, that person must be on the right register, and an advert that lists an unregistered practitioner under a protected title can expose you as well as them. The title offences are explained in the guide on checking practitioners, linked below.

Staff with no statutory register, such as sports massage therapists, cannot use a protected title. Describe what they do without using the title. Section 32 of the Chiropractors Act 1994 makes it an offence for anyone to describe themselves as a chiropractor without being registered. You can advertise chiropractic care that registered chiropractors provide, but only they may be described as chiropractors.

Before you publish

Run through these points for each page, leaflet or post:

1. match every treatment claim to the list for the profession that gives the treatment
2. keep the documentary evidence for any claim that is not on a list
3. remove claims about conditions specific to babies, children or pregnant women, such as colic and morning sickness, unless you hold a strong body of evidence
4. check that every practitioner you name holds the title you give them
5. date your evidence file and review your copy when CAP updates its advice pages

What to do next

Once your copy is checked, carry on with the rest of the path in Start a physiotherapy, osteopathy or chiropractic clinic. If your website collects patient details, see Data protection for healthcare providers.

If you are unsure whether a claim is acceptable, ask the CAP Copy Advice service before you publish.