Sports Medicine Info Online: New Study Advises 'Be careful'!

[Lauren Backstrom]

A recent study published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery found that the quality of information posted online about the most common sports medicine diagnoses varies widely. While this might seem like common sense to readers, the study's authors stated that they decided to undertake the study due to the increasing number of patients presenting their physicians information which they obtained from the Internet and believe accurately describes their condition.

The study looked at the top 10 common sports medicine diagnoses and using Google and Yahoo, reviewed the top 10 search results for each. About 20% of the search results were from sponsored sites providing information that may be biased and rarely including mentions of any possible risks or complications.

Advice from the study's authors: patients should be aware that the quality of information available online varies greatly and should stick to nonprofit, academic or nonsales-oriented sites when researching.

View the full text here: http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=66232

[Jenna Caswell]

I agree! There are so many options online and with the convenience of just looking it up on Google, it's hard to tell what is a reliable source, especially when trying to diagnose yourself. Very interesting and timely study.

[Molly Galler]

This is a great point. Not all medical information on the web comes from a credible source and all patients, not just athletes, need to be careful when searching for medical advice online. Always a solid reminder. Thanks for sharing.