Publicly accessible web-based information on spinal cord stimulation: A scoping review

Background: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an emerging tool in physical medicine and rehabilitation which shows tremendous promise as a therapeutic modality for addressing a wide range of symptoms and functional impairments associated with chronic disease and disability. Although the standardized application of this tool is still in its nascence, there is growing demand for information related to SCS among the general public. Objective: This scoping review aimed to identify and assess web-based information regarding the use or application of SCS for the treatment or management of health conditions and symptoms. Methods: A systematic search was performed using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s methodology for scoping reviews. Google Trends was used to identify the top trending, worldwide search queries (i.e., keyword terms) within a specified time frame (February 02, 2012 to February 02, 2022). From these results, “spinal stimulator” was identified as the top queried term. After entering this term in the 4 most widely used search engines (Google, Baidu, Yahoo, and Bing), information on SCS found on primary websites within the first two pages of returned results were assessed. Results: One hundred and three websites were identified for the term “spinal stimulator” (Google=30, Baidu=20, Yahoo=29, Bing=24). After duplicate removal, 46 unique primary sites were identified. Primary sites were scientific resources (n=5), non-profit (n=8), for-profit (n=17), news/media (n=3), independent/blogs (n=3), or peer-reviewed journal articles (n=10). Linked sites (n=55) with additional resources were also identified. Conclusions: Publicly available web-based information on the use of SCS mainly targets people with chronic pain. 29 websites described epidural SCS exclusively but did not describe any contraindications. Our preliminary search results suggest that more than half of all websites curating information on invasive (i.e., epidural) SCS did not describe potential risk factors and harms associated with these procedures. This review is currently on-going.