Conservative treatments are commonly performed therapeutic interventions for the management of carpometacarpal (CMC) joint osteoarthritis (OA). Physical and occupational therapies are starting to use video-based online content as both a patient teaching tool and a source for treatment techniques. YouTube is a popular video-sharing website that can be accessed easily. The purpose of this study was to analyze the quality of content and potential sources of bias in videos available on YouTube pertaining to thumb exercises for CMC OA.
The YouTube video database was systematically searched using the search term thumb osteoarthritis and exercises from its inception to March 10, 2017. Authors independently selected videos, conducted quality assessment, and extracted results.
A total of 832 videos were found using the keywords. Of these, 10 videos clearly demonstrated therapeutic exercise for the management of CMC OA. In addition, the top-ranked video found by performing a search of "views" was a video with more than 121 863 views uploaded in 2015 that lasted 12.33 minutes and scored only 2 points on the Global Score for Educational Value rating scale.
Most of the videos viewed that described conservative interventions for CMC OA management have a low level of evidence to support their use. Although patients and novice hand therapists are using YouTube and other online resources, videos that are produced by expert hand therapists are scarce.