(Research Hub Theater) Analyzing the Educational Value of Ankle Sprain-related Videos on TikTok

Background and/or Objectives: Social media platforms, like TikTok, have become popular options for the distribution of healthcare information. Due to the lack of scientific oversight, the quality of healthcare-related videos has become a focus of the current literature. However, orthopaedic surgery has lagged behind other fields in acknowledging the widespread utilization of TikTok videos for medical information consumption. This study aims to assess the quality and educational benefits of ankle sprain-related TikTok videos.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Online.

Participants: Cross-sectional study.

Interventions: not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: DISCERN 1, 3, and ASSES scores

Results: The total number of views of the 100 videos included was 6,483,412, with a median of 5,377.5 (IQR = 1,074- 20,275). The videos collectively received 385,847 likes, 3,642 comments, 55,574 favorites, and 14,918 shares. General users uploaded more videos (68%) when compared to healthcare professionals (32%). However, the dissemination statistics between the general users and healthcare professionals were all statistically insignificant. General users had a higher percentage of their videos graded as “very poor” (61.8%) in comparison to the number of videos uploaded by healthcare professionals deemed “very poor” (34.4%). Neither general users nor healthcare professionals had videos graded as “good” or “excellent”. There were significant differences between the two groups for DISCERN 1, 3, and ASSES scores.

Conclusions: Although TikTok is a powerful tool for information distribution, the educational value of the videos related to ankle sprain injury exercises was poor. With only 2% of videos receiving a grade of ‘fair,’ and no videos reaching a score of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, healthcare professionals should be aware of the low-quality content easily accessible on TikTok.