Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

Clinical Efficacy of Small Needle Knife Therapy on Stage I-II Frozen Shoulder
Published on: November 17, 2023
EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY AND RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION ON ADHESIVE CAPSULITIS (FROZEN SHOULDER) ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA
Douglas Hideo Higuchi1, Fabio Teruo Matsunaga1, Guilherme Satake1
1Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Departamento de Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Grupo de Cirurgia do Ombro e Cotovelo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Objective:
To assess the quality and reliability of information on adhesive capsulitis provided to the public on Instagram.
Method:
The 100 most relevant posts on #adhesivecapsulitis and the 100 posts on #frozenbrown hashtags were analyzed on a single day. The evaluation was carried out by three professionals at different levels - a general practitioner, an orthopedist, and a shoulder and elbow surgeon - using the Global Quality Score (GQS), the modified DISCERN, and the Frozen Shoulder Specific Score (FSSS). In addition, interobserver agreement was checked.
Results:
The majority (65.5%) of the 200 posts analyzed presented incomplete information, scoring 1 or 2, representing low scientific foundation and limited clinical applicability. The average scores on the three scores indicated unsatisfactory quality of the content. However, agreement between the evaluators was high, demonstrating the reliability of the methods used.
Conclusion:
Although Instagram is widely used as a source of health information, it has poor-quality content on adhesive capsulitis. These findings reinforce the importance of medical guidance and the production of more accurate, evidence-based information materials. Level of evidence IV; observational, descriptive, cross-sectional.

