Google Trends Shows Increased Public Interest in Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections in All Joints: Shoulder and Knee...

To assess search term frequency of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in multiple joints, including the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, ankle, and foot, using Google Trends.

The following joints included were (1) shoulder, (2) elbow, (3) hip, (4) knee, (5) ankle, and (6) foot. Google Trends was utilized to obtain search trends from 2010 to 2023 for each joint. The search combinations "PRP" + "shoulder," "elbow," "hip," "knee," "ankle," and "foot" were used, and a linear regression model was applied. Analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey honest significant difference analyses were performed to determine specific comparisons between joints.

There was an increasing trend in Google queries for PRP and shoulder (R ² = 0.669, P < .001), elbow (R ² = 0.284, P < .001), hip (R ² = 0.648, P < .001), knee (R ² = 0.802, P < .001), ankle (R ² = 0.240, P < .001), and foot (R ² = 0.040, P = .009). The shoulder showed the greatest rate of growth, shown by the slope in the linear regression model, followed by the knee (0.422 and 0.421, respectively). Within the lens of percent increase, PRP in the ankle had the highest magnitude of growth, followed by the knee (1,251.27% and 163.95%, respectively). The knee joint held the highest average relative search volume of 66.38 as of 2023.

Each of the search terms for PRP in the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, ankle, and foot had statistically significant trends of increasing search volume. PRP for the shoulder and knee exhibited the highest rate of growth, whereas PRP for the foot exhibited the slowest increase.

There appears to be substantial patient interest in PRP injections. The information in this study can be used by clinicians to better understand which joint injections patients may generally be interested in discussing during clinic visits. They can provide evidence-based materials to educate patients about PRP joint injections.