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CORR Insights®: What are the Implications of Excessive Internet Searches for Medical Information by Orthopaedic Patients?

Alarge proportion of patients will search for information about their symptoms on the internet prior to seeing an orthopaedic surgeon [5]. In fact, some seem to come to the office mostly to confirm a diagnosis they’ve already made. Indeed, the advent of the internet has had a profound impact on the way we deliver care. But as strange as it sounds, this new dynamic has positive effects. Patients can read about other people’s experiences with treatments and can determine whether a treatment aligns with their values. The fact that patients are better informed also allows them to be more actively involved in their care, whichmay improve how they fare with treatment [2]. But internet searches for health information can also adversely affect health, as the current study demonstrates. Blackburn and colleagues [3] found that excessive internet searching by patients, defined as “cyberchondria”, explains about onethird of the variance of the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and health anxiety. Excessive internet searches for health information have the potential to give people false information or information that inspires maladaptive coping strategies [9]. To an extent, every person is somewhat intolerant of uncertainty. Experiencing pain in the absence of a good understanding of what is causing the discomfort can be frightening. Misconceptions that people have about an illness can increase symptom intensity [6, 10]. Following a Google search of his symptoms, one of my patients thought his trapeziometacarpal joint arthritis might be a neurological issue that “will move up the arm,” and might, in turn, influence his elbow and shoulder function. After explaining that the pain was due to age-related changes of the thumb joint, his anxiety diminished, and he left the appointment feeling reassured.