Acute Knee Injury-Related TikTok Videos Are Frequently Inaccurate, Incomplete, and Created by Nonphysicians

Purpose

To evaluate TikTok videos related to knee injuries, examining the accuracy and sources of the content, the category of information provided, the reach of the videos, and the capability of the videos to cause harm.

Methods

On September 1, 2024, TikTok was queried using layperson’s terms for acute knee injuries (e.g., “ACL tear”) to identify popular hashtags. The top 10 videos per hashtag and 5 videos per search term (e.g., “knee pop”) by view count were included if they related to the specified knee injury, surgery, or recovery process. Videos with fewer than 1,000 views were excluded. Metrics such as number of likes, number of views, number of comments, creator demographic characteristics, and video content type were collected, and videos were evaluated for quality using the DISCERN scoring system.

Results

A total of 234 TikTok videos related to knee injuries were analyzed, averaging 699,235 views per video (median, 138,500 views). DISCERN analysis revealed that 41% of videos were rated as poor whereas 59% were satisfactory. Videos featuring medical recommendations had significantly higher engagement scores (mean, 5.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.49-6.83; P = .001) and longer durations (mean, 53.38 seconds; 95% CI, 44.47-62.28 seconds; P = .002) than those without recommendations (mean score, 3.18 [95% CI, 2.84-3.52]; mean duration, 38.10 seconds [95% CI, 33.18-43.01 seconds]). Satisfactory videos outperformed poor-quality videos across DISCERN metrics, with clearer aims (mean, 3.91 vs 2.72; P < .001), greater relevance (mean, 3.20 vs 2.09; P < .001), and more balanced information (mean, 1.60 vs 1.00; P < .001). Physicians created 24.4% of the videos, which generally scored higher according to the DISCERN criteria than videos created by non–health care–related professionals.

Conclusions

Videos created by health care professionals, particularly physicians, scored higher in terms of educational quality but accounted for a small proportion of total content. In contrast, nonphysician creators frequently provided inaccurate or incomplete information. Despite this, videos with medical recommendations achieved higher engagement.

Clinical Relevance

There is a predominance of nonphysician creators disseminating inaccurate medical information, underscoring the need for orthopaedic surgeons to engage in digital health education to provide reliable content. This study provides insights into the digital content patients may be consuming regarding their medical conditions.