ArticleCureus2023
Misinformation About Orthopaedic Conditions on Social Media: Analysis of TikTok and Instagram.
Article in Cureus, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- TikTok, RedNote, and Bilibili as sources of medical information on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-platform content analysis.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Article
- Assessing the Quality of Consumer Health Information Within the Realm of Shoulder Injuries on TikTok.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- The Trust-Behavior Paradox in Orthopedic Care: A National Survey of Care-Seeking, Misinformation, and Non-Physician Information Sources.Orthopedic reviews · 2026Article
- #Cartilage: TikTok Videos on Cartilage Surgery Demonstrate Low Quality and Limited Educational Value.Cartilage · 2025Article
- Social media best practices for the spine care professional.North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- TikTok and Orthopaedic Education: Engaging the Next Generation of Patients.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2025Article
- Acute Knee Injury-Related TikTok Videos Are Frequently Inaccurate, Incomplete, and Created by Nonphysicians.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Fake News? Quantifying the Prevalence of Misinformation Related to Scoliosis on the TikTok Social Media Platform.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2025Article
- Assessing quality, reliability and accuracy of polycystic ovary syndrome-related content on TikTok: A video-based cross-sectional analysis.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2025Article
- Article
- Most TikTok Videos Regarding the Anterolateral Ligament of the Knee Are Posted by Patients and Have Little Educational Value.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- TikTok Videos Related to the Posterior Cruciate Ligament Have Low Educational Value.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment Information on Popular Social Media Platforms.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2025Article
- Social Media Perspectives on Clavicle Fractures: A Content Analysis of Instagram Posts From Patients and Surgeons.Cureus · 2025Article
- Hashtag Healthcare: An Assessment of Current Educational Quality and Patient Perceptions of Scoliosis on TikTok.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Quality of Information in Instagram Posts Related to Spine Surgery: A Methodological Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Oocyte cryopreservation on TikTok and Instagram: Who is teaching whom?Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2024Article
- Meniscus-Related Videos on TikTok Are Widely Viewed and Shared but the Educational Quality for Patients Is Poor.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- TikTok content as a source of health education regarding epicondylitis: a content analysis.Journal of orthopaedics and traumatology : official journal of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction Social media outlets such as TikTok (TT) and Instagram (IG) have surged as a method to disseminate information. More recently, healthcare professionals have targeted this space as a means to provide medical education and advice. With the ever-growing content on these applications, there is significant variability and quality of material available, which can lead to the dissemination of misinformation. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy and popularity of content on common orthopaedic pathology on TT and IG. Methods Content on TT and IG related to six common orthopaedic conditions - achilles tendon tear, ACL tear, meniscus tear, tennis elbow, rotator cuff tear, and ankle sprains - was evaluated between April and June 2022. The top ten posts for the top two associated hashtags for each condition were reviewed. The quality of each post was analyzed using the DISCERN instrument, rating each on a scale of 1 to 5. Each post was characterized by the author's profession (physician, physical therapist, chiropractor, etc.) and content type (educational, testimonial, personal, promotional, and entertainment). Popularity and engagement metrics such as "comments," "likes," and "shares" were also collected. Results There were 165,666,490 views on TT and 9,631,015 views on IG amongst the six common aforementioned orthopaedic conditions. Content created by physicians had less overall engagement (16.1%) compared to content created by non-physicians (83.9%). The quality of content on average was low (mean misinformation index 2.04 ± 1.08 (1-5)
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.