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Purpose: To (1) identify the percentage of patients seen in an orthopaedic sports medicine practice who use social media and (2) identify the role that social media has in physician selection as compared with other factors. Methods: After institutional review board approval was received, new patients aged 18 years or older who attended a single orthopaedic sports medicine office from February 2020 to May 2021 were identified for inclusion. Sociodemographic information was recorded, and each patient was asked to fill out a questionnaire that assessed social media usage and online resources used to choose and formulate opinions regarding the patient’s provider. Results: Two hundred patients met the inclusion criteria and completed the questionnaire. Of these, 96.5% reported social media use. The most common online method of searching for and identifying a physician was Google (50.5%). Social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn were only used 15.5% of the time to search for and select a physician. Older patients were more likely to use recommendations from friends and family in their consideration when selecting a physician. Conclusions: Despite almost all participants stating that they use social media, only 15.5% of patients reported that they used social media to search for and potentially select their physician. Our study suggests that although social media can be a helpful tool for patient education, other factors such as physician education and physician reputation through word-of-mouth referrals, online reviews, and online ratings seem to play a larger role in the patient’s selection of his or her physician. Clinical Relevance: This information may be of value to orthopaedic surgeons looking for ways to build their patient base, online reputation, or other aspects of their practice on the Internet. more...

Category: Sports; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Achilles tendon ruptures are devastating injuries in elite athletes. Current literature shows poor prognosis following Achilles tendon rupture in professional male basketball players, however there are currently no studies examining the effects of Achilles tendon rupture on performance outcomes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Understanding the impact Achilles tendon rupture has on return to play and performance metrics in the WNBA will provide valuable information to players, team personnel, and medical professionals on post-injury expectations. Methods: 17 WNBA players who sustained an Achilles tendon rupture from 2000-2019 were identified from publicly available injury reports and player profiles. Demographic information collected included age, body mass index (BMI), position, and service in the WNBA when the tear occurred. Statistics were collected for the season before the injury, and two seasons after the injury, and the Player Efficiency Rating (PER) was calculated. PER is defined as ([points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks] - [(field goals attempted - field goals made) + (free throws attempted - free throws made) + turnovers]) / games. Controls were matched by service in the WNBA, position, and PER. Results: Following Achilles tendon rupture, four players never returned to play in the WNBA, while seven players failed to play >1 season. Players who returned saw a significant decrease in the number of minutes played per game in both their first and second seasons post-injury (mean differences -6.11 and -6.54, respectively, p1 season after returning from injury. more...

Purpose: To identify and evaluate the top 50 most-cited articles pertaining to SLAP tears. Methods: The ISI Web of Knowledge database was used to conduct a query for articles pertaining to SLAP tears. Our query was conducted in April 2020 with multiple Boolean operative combinations performed by 2 independent reviewers. Articles on the final list were further reviewed to extract the following data: manuscript title, first author, total citation count, year of publication, citation density since publication, current citation rate since 2013, journal, country of origin, and level of evidence. Results: Our initial search yielded 2,597 articles. Within this cohort, the top 50 publications pertaining to SLAP tears were identified that met our search criteria. The top article was cited 802 times while the 50th ranked article was cited 46 times. The average number of citations per publication was 131, whereas the average citation density since year of publication was 7.3. No strong correlations were found between citation density and year published. Twelve journals published articles pertaining to SLAP tears, with Arthroscopy accounting for the greatest number (15 articles, 30%). Most articles were graded with a level of evidence (LOE) of IV (n = 24, 48%), followed by review articles without LOE (n = 8, 16%). Only 2 articles achieved an LOE of I (4%). Articles typically addressed the arthroscopic management (n = 11, 22%), whereas anatomy/classification (n =10, 20%), and outcomes (n = 9, 18%) also were reported. Conclusions: This review provides a quantitative analysis of the most-referenced literature pertaining to SLAP tears. This body of knowledge helps surgeons search for literature regarding these injuries and identify trends regarding SLAP tear research. Clinical Relevance: This research provides practitioners with an easily accessible and comprehensive collection of the major contributions regarding SLAP tears and offers insight into future areas for research. more...