Should you be asking what is WebMD, or who? Either way, you’ll get the same answer: The U.S #1 GIGANTIC 
OMEGA source of health information on the planet, and it’s likely to dominate every one of your health related search results on Google. My goodness! or my googleness!
For any medical concern, or question, you have, all it takes is literally one type of medical term into your search bar, and bang! You’ve hit the bulls-eye website of WebMd in an instant. WebMD will promise to empower its patients, be respectful, and trustworthy.
But the follow up question you should be concerned with is, “Are they really trustworthy”?
That’s the question we’ll be answering in this article, along with a couple important details:
- How WebMD is helpful
- Are they trustworthy
- My recommendation
Are you ready to jump into anticipation?
How WebMD Is Helpful For You, And Millions Of Others
At a quick glance you’ll find an information galore, a 100’s of published articles, a tremendous amount of topics in:
- neck
- back
- shoulder
- legs
…And everything and anything from Health A-Z.
Imagine typing in any phrase or one health related key term into a search bar like google and seeing every search result from one website, you’ll be very well familiar with WebMD by then.
There mission:
WebMD like any other health related website has a mission statement. They have created an organization that they believe will fulfill the promise of health related information the web. Not only do they provide credible information, but they support communities, and make sure to supply you with incredible and in depth reference material about health subjects that matter to you.
How they create such exhausting information:
Wouldn’t you like to know how they design such a consistent and lucrative amount of information per article? Before having my own site(Remove Back Pain) I was curious as to who is this perfect writer behind the scenes? Let me shake their hand and thank them for helping me out.
The staff at WebMD is composed of award winning experts in journalism. It’s a more than one person show! I can respect that more people contribute to their website, but I find flaws that you will hear about in the next section. But for now, they specialize in:
- content creation
- communities
- live web events
- interactive tools
- medical imagery
- creating and maintaining medical reference content database
It’s an endless supply of goodies. WebMD has certified-physicians on board, their award winning journalist. trained community moderators to give you day by day content information.
They are committed to understanding their patients and users needs, and want to make sure to that as dull as listening to health information is, they handle it with exciting, engaging, and entertaining value.
Are They Trustworthy?
The drum-roll please….It’s only me I guess. Now that we know what and Who WebMD is along with their benefits, it’s time we turn our attention to some of the more attractive findings.
Over the years, there has been constant investigation about WebMd’s potential conflicts of interest, and this is because the site generally brings in revenue from advertising and sponsored content for other major health companies like:
- pharmaceuticals
- biotech
- hospitals
- medical device companies
- lifestyle wellness brands
- health insurance providers
To WebMD’s defense, they are not the only health company that rely on industries dollars as part of their business model. It raises question as to are they trying to educate their physicians or the general public? But their is also the marketing side to it all. Which brings me a to a LARGE Problem!
One thing as a person who’s had health relate problems, especially with severe lower back pain, I don’t like their way about how they sell a drug. The sites relationship with drug makers are questionable. Since WebMD partners with many pharmaceutical companies it’s no surprise that they would allow these companies to promote ads on WebMD’s home page and articles.
In my experience of reading through some back pain related articles, by no means was the information not credible, there were either too may sponsored ads, with blocks of hospitals, and pharmaceuticals. all leading me to drug companies or other means of getting help. I sometimes got so bombarded with ads and irrelevant information that I found myself spending more time on an article just to navigate getting myself away from all this.
And the least favorite part was having to click to multiple article just to get to the point!
Tricky, and a little deceptive in their approach to getting your attention.
If you scroll to the bottom of their home page footer, you’ll find a symptom checker, which will ask you for information like your sex, age, and symptoms all in attempt to spit you back out a diagnosis on what you’re having problems with. That’s it, just a diagnosis! No content follows it, theirs no details that help you start and end your problem.
It doesn’t sound annoying at first, but it gets to be if you’re looking for a particular solution to solve your pain. I know when I’m searching for answers for example to my back pain, I don’t need a diagnosis, I want to know where I can start in my particular circumstances, go through my journey, and end where I need to be.
I love how much information you get, but it’s just the same repetitive article after article without extra fire. What I mean by this is that that to my opinion, there should be more emphasis on individual experiences,stories, ways to relate and see how something like following entreating plan can work for you because it was tested for someone else.
Looking through some of WebMd’s weight loss articles, It sends mixed information about weight loss supplements. They suggest a product like green coffee supplements will help you, but that is neither good nor relevant anymore! The government cracked down on these type of pills and stated that there was no good evidence behind them scientifically working.
Of-course there are pages with the right information, but it’s very simple and straightforward. In their weight 10 easy, painless ways to lose weight, this page is rather obvious with saying things like:
- eat good meals
- hydrate
- walk
UHHH…I could have asked my friend about that. Where’s the substance? Don’t you also want to hear about who’s benefited from this, what works, and what doesn’t? I certainly would. First hand and first view expression is a very important aspect to health. For example which one sounds better to you?…
- To Fix your joint pain, rest, ice, walk for about 15 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week
Or
- In order to replenish your joints and clear your joint pain the right ways, start off with low-impact activities, and to continue your routine for 3-4 times a day, and make sure if you need to take a supplement of this “product” as it will not only help alleviate your pain, but it will restore your fibrin and add proteolytic enzymes through its ingredients like Boswelia and Rutin. It works best if you do this 2 times a day for the next couple of weeks. In my experience, I had sever joint pain, and I found that this worked the best.
Which one sounds better? Hopefully you said number two. There is no better feeling than having someone who’s had your issues and can speak not from just a physicians or doctors point of view, but from someone with the same expertise and has had troubles with certain health problems.
What I dislike the most:
I do use WebMD for health related reasons, and while they attempt to give standard information, I don’t like that they hit you with ads in articles.
When I go to research about getting help with weight loss pills, I get ads with very little content or no sign of its effectiveness. If you’re working with sponsored ads from other large companies, it’s worrying to not see enough information. Basically, you’re getting spit with information just in attempt to sell, not help!
My #1 Recommendation
I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t like WebMD, because I do. It’s awesome, and I would have never learned about my diagnosis or symptoms, and I trust them for the most part with steps to take with my current lower back pain. I will continue to use their website, and I suggest you check them out from time to time, since they are great for finding out and learning more about your health concern(s).
WebMD contains a lot of useful information that’s sitting there ready for you to read. But in my opinion and many people will agree with me that there is no better way than staying current in the medical world/industry.
Other than searching for health related organizations, text books and journals are great ways to find information, but they are frequently years behind in current knowledge. This information is highly credible but they are old, outdated, and simply lack the new advancements and approaches to proper care and medicine. And It seems that TV, and the internet has our latest information now a days.
I love going through sites that have people or someone who’s had an experience, talk about it, show people what they did right and wrong, and what measures they took that actually worked well and best for them with the addition of helping you understand if certain products are good or bad for you, and IF you NEED to use them.
Quick Note: We are a fast growing and becoming more reputable platform for lower back pain, and in the process we showcase products that can help you along the way in your treatment. In No way, shape, or form am I going to sell to you.
Here’s a quick video of me if talking to you about who we are, and what I do:
Continuation…The reason this works well is because you get to see what someone had to do to go through to get the best results, and what they used to treat their acute and chronic lower back pain. Nothing against these health related websites, but sometimes you need more content, more in depth information that will ensure you have a proper routine,day by day care, and to make sure you’re getting the right conservative treatments and ways to treat your pain accurately.
A huge part of my journey in life has been to overcome many health concerns, from an early age till now in my late 20’s. It started with heart murmurs, feinting in amusement park, getting my appendix taken out, breaking my arm, getting surgery from a tooth absence on the top of my gum on the roof of my mouth, to now having had a bad back(that is extremely better) from playing soccer.
Now, I’m not here to cover every health A-Z, but what I am here for is to offer you my expertise, experiences, knowledge, and step-by-step processes to make sure you get over your lower back pain safely and effectively, and get back to the healthiest lifestyle you can receive.
I promise to stay on top of the latest information and news, and bring you it every single day. The door is open for you…
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