YouTube provides insufficient information on patellofemoral instability

OBJECTIVE: Videos uploaded to YouTube do not go through a review process, and therefore, videos related to patellofemoral instability may have little educational value. The purpose of this study was to assess the educational quality of YouTube videos regarding patellofemoral instability. METHODS: A standard search was performed on the YouTube database using the following terms: “unstable kneecap,” “patellar instability,” “patellofemoral instability,” “kneecap dislocation,” and “patellar dislocation,” and the top 50 videos based on the “relevance” assignment of the YouTube algorithm were included for analysis. The properties, content, and source of each video were recorded. The educational quality of videos was analyzed according to scores obtained using DISCERN, the criteria of Journal of the American Medical Association, Global Quality Score, and Patellofemoral Instability Specific Score, and the quality of the videos was evaluated according to the groupings of these scoring systems. RESULTS: A total of 250 videos were identified, of which 89 were included in the study for analysis. The mean video duration was 11.72 ± 22.03 minutes. The median number of views was 4516.5 (range, 3-6 044 971). The content of the videos was disease-specific in 60%, 20% were related to surgical technique or approach, and 14.1% were exercise videos. Most of the videos were uploaded by physicians (33.7%). The Global Quality Score and DISCERN scores were significantly correlated with video duration. The Patellofemoral Instability Specific Score was significantly correlated with video duration, number of views, view rate, likes, and Video Power Index. According to the DISCERN classification, 69.9% of the videos were very insufficient or insufficient. According to the Patellofemoral Instability Specific Score, 65.2% of videos were evaluated as very low or low. According to the Global Quality Score, 60.7% of videos were rated as poor quality. CONCLUSION: The quality of YouTube videos about Patellofemoral instability is insufficient. It was found that viewers tend to watch short and low-quality videos.