An analysis of Google Trends following athletic injuries by high profile NBA players during the 2019 NBA finals
-
Jay C. Thompson
,
Christopher M. Price
Abstract
Context
Injuries are common among high profile players in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and could provide an opportunity for physicians to provide accurate sports injury information and reliable rehabilitation data to the general public in the immediate aftermath.
Objectives
To evaluate social media trends to investigate public interest in athletic injuries in the NBA and to evaluate the length of maintained interest in these injuries.
Methods
The Google Trends tool was used to analyze search data around two high profile players—Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson—who suffered injuries during the 2019 NBA Finals. The results were compared to the expected search forecast derived from an autoregressive integrated moving algorithm model.
Results
Both players were associated with a mean increase of 1,052.4% (standard deviation [SD], 703.96%) in relative search volumes for terms related to their injuries. This data showed a significant increase in search engine activity related to injuries associated with NBA players in the first 6.13 days (SD, 3.14 days) following the injuries, marking a substantial timeframe for public engagement.
Conclusions
Search traffic information may be beneficial to the sports medicine community, as social media can provide a platform for patient education in a limited timeframe. By increasing patient awareness and knowledge regarding athletic injuries, social media can expand the pool of potential patients for physicians and surgeons.
Basketball is among the most popular team sports in the world, with an estimated 2.2 billion fans worldwide [1]. Men’s collegiate basketball injuries occur at a rate of 8.5 per 1,000 athlete exposures, ranking basketball sixth among the 25 collegiate championship sports with the highest injury rates [2]. This accounts for approximately 16,100 basketball injuries at the collegiate level and an additional 174,000 injuries at the high school level annually [3], [4]. These common injuries are brought to the public’s attention when they happen to high profile players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Numerous studies have demonstrated positive prevention strategies for common basketball injuries [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. Accurate sports injury information and reliable rehabilitation data are pertinent when disseminating health information to the general public.
Using information found online, the general public can learn about basketball related injuries suffered by high profile NBA players. We performed a Google Trends analysis following injuries sustained by Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson during the 2019 NBA Finals in an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) is there public interest in learning about the athletic injuries sustained by NBA players?; and (2) for how long after an NBA player sustains an injury does it remain of interest to the general public? By investigating these questions, we hope to share information that will assist physicians and surgeons in better distributing educational material to the public regarding athletic injuries through published editorials or social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook based on the best available evidence.
Methods
Google Trends
Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/) is a web-based platform that collects search engine query data and displays it as relative search volume (RSV) over time—a proportional search volume score with the highest number of searches within a given time interval (100%) set as the denominator. Google Trends excludes all special characters and duplicate searches from the same user over a short amount of time to improve data accuracy. Google Trends search terms made by “very few” people are also excluded and given the distinction of 0 [8]. On October 22, 2019, an author (T.T.) searched Google Trends for terms and phrases related to the injuries of two professional basketball players, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals.
Player injuries
Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles tendon on June 10, 2019, during Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals [9]. Klay Thompson tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on June 13, 2019, in the following game [10]. Given the proximity of the injuries, we collected RSV data for March 1, 2019, through September 1, 2019. For Kevin Durant’s injury, the following search phrases were evaluated: “what happened to Kevin Durant,” “Achilles recovery,” “Achilles tear,” “Achilles tendon repair,” and “Achilles rehab.” For Klay Thompson’s injury, the following search phrases were evaluated: “what happened to Klay Thompson,” “anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction,” “ACL tear,” “ACL recovery,” and “ACL rehab.”
Statistical analysis
We performed an observational comparison of graphical interpretations of the RSV data. A constructed autoregressive integrated moving algorithm (ARIMA) [11] model was used to compare the RSV extracted from Google Trends to the predicted search volumes of the injury-related terms had the athletes not suffered injuries. ARIMA modeling was performed using R version 3.6.1 (R Foundation) and all other analyses were completed using Stata 15.1 (STATA Corp., LLC). Analyses performed on data projections included the difference between the actual and forecasted RSV, the percent increase in RSV immediately after the injury, the number of days the actual search volume was higher than the forecasted search volume, and the mean percent increase over those days for each term (Table 1).
Orthopedic related search interest following NBA injuries.
| NBA athlete | Search term | Difference in RSV and forecasted search volume (95% CI) | Percent change between actual and expected | Days greater than forecasted search volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Durant | What happened to Kevin Durant | 93.98 (86.09–101.87) | 1,561.11 | 4 |
| Achilles tendon repair | 78.68 (51.00–106.36) | 369.07 | 11 | |
| Achilles rehab | 84.01 (55.89–112.12) | 525.23 | 6 | |
| Achilles recoverya | NA | NA | NA | |
| Achilles teara | NA | NA | NA | |
| Klay Thompson | What happened to Klay Thompson | 95.67 (88.12–103.22) | 2,208.13 | 5 |
| ACL injury | 94.70 (90.69–98.72) | 1788.49 | 10 | |
| ACL reconstruction | 78.33 (70.56–86.10) | 361.43 | 8 | |
| ACL tear | 92.83 (88.29–97.35) | 1,293.30 | 4 | |
| ACL rehab | 75.74 (53.69–97.80) | 312.27 | 1 |
aTerms did not yield adequate search interest and were excluded. ACL, anterior cruciate ligament; CI, confidence interval; NA, not applicable; NBA, National Basketball Association; RSV, relative search volume.
Results
Of the 10 search terms in the study, two terms (“Achilles tear” and “Achilles recovery”) did not yield adequate interest and were excluded. All included search terms showed a significant increase in RSV, with peak increase in RSV occurring the day after the injuries were sustained (Figures 1 and 2). All search terms were noted to have an increase over the forecasted search volume the day after the players were injured, with a mean percent change of 1,052.4% (standard deviation [SD], 703.96%) the day after the injury. The mean number of days for which the search volume was higher than the forecasted search volume was 6.1 days (SD, 3.14 days).
Google Trends results for Kevin Durant related search terms.
Google Trends results for Klay Thompson related search terms.
Discussion
The data demonstrate an increase in Google search interest surrounding the injuries of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson during the 2019 NBA Finals. The results demonstrate a sustained elevation of Google search interest starting on the first day postinjury through 6.1 days following the sentinel event. These results provide a sense of the “opportunity window” for orthopedic, sports medicine, and musculoskeletal practitioners to consider disseminating marketing and patient education materials regarding athletic injuries. Knowledge regarding the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of athletic injuries could be employed in a limited timeframe just after a basketball injury to reach the greatest number of potential patients.
Google Trends and social media analyses have been used in publications in other medical fields. For example, in the context of “selfie” photos and skin cancer prevention, Noar et al. [12] revealed that an individual’s social media post can significantly increase public engagement of healthcare related topics. Furthermore, Torgerson et al. [13] found an increase in calls made to the national sexual assault hotline following the airing of the hotline’s number in a Grey’s Anatomy episode. These previous publications are intriguing, as they provide templates for how physicians and surgeons can use media to engage and educate members of the public in a variety of medical fields. Our results build upon these previously published studies to demonstrate the impact that social media platforms can have to disseminate medical information.
Based on our data, NBA player injuries draw substantial interest from the general population. Capitalizing on this high interest time, practitioners could consider building educational platforms focused on common basketball injuries. Such platforms could be used by physicians and surgeons to increase optimal outcomes following basketball injuries by aiming for earlier diagnosis, quicker injury recovery, and safer return to play. Specifically, an increase in readily available information regarding basketball injuries and recovery could help set appropriate expectations to young athletes who sustain these injuries.
Limitations
This study focused on a single data source, Google Trends. Furthermore, the data collected for Google Trends only pertains to Google searches and does not distinguish between the intent of searches. For example, it is impossible to determine whether the searches were for educational or medical purposes, or if Internet users were simply trying to view the injury. The data are also limited by the number and specific terms used, as a different set of terms may have yielded contrasting results to the data reported here. Another limitation is that the study only included two injuries to two high profile NBA athletes who required surgery; these injuries might hold a greater interest compared with other nonoperative injuries. This data cannot be extrapolated to include all NBA players or collegiate athletes as they may not have such broad social media influence.
Conclusions
Our limited data suggested that the public is interested in the injuries sustained by NBA players as seen through elevated RSV of Google search terms in the time following the injury of two high profile athletes. This may present a time limited opportunity for heightened education efforts around orthopedic injury prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and return to play.
Research funding: None reported.
Author contributions: Mr. Torgerson and Drs Hartwell, Checketts, Vassar, and Price provided substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; Drs Thompson, Price, Hanson, and Checketts drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content; all authors gave final approval of the version of the article to be published; and all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Competing interests: None reported.
References
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© 2021 Jay C. Thompson et al., published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- The impact of COVID-19 on womxn in science and osteopathic medicine
- Cardiopulmonary Medicine
- Original Article
- Development of atrial fibrillation following trauma increases short term risk of cardiovascular events
- Innovations
- Case Report
- Scrambler therapy for incident pain in bone metastases
- Medical Education
- Original Article
- Efficacy of implementing intermittent STOP THE BLEED® reviews on long term retention of hemorrhage control skills of first year medical students
- Musculoskeletal Medicine and Pain
- Original Article
- An analysis of Google Trends following athletic injuries by high profile NBA players during the 2019 NBA finals
- Musculoskeletal Medicine and Pain
- Case Report
- The enigmatic fascia: eosinophilic fasciitis
- Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (OMT)
- Original Article
- Effects of osteopathic manipulative treatment and bio-electromagnetic energy regulation therapy on lower back pain
- Review Article
- A mixed treatment comparison of selected osteopathic techniques used to treat acute nonspecific low back pain: a proof of concept and plan for further research
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Original Article
- United States internet searches for “infertility” following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
- Pediatrics
- Effect of osteopathic manipulative treatment on pulmonary function testing in children with asthma
- Clinical Image
- Polyarticular, ulcerated tophaceous gout
- Letter to the Editor
- The importance of osteopathic physician scientist training programs
- AOA Communications
- Official Call: 2021 Annual Business Meeting of the American Osteopathic Association
- Proposed Amendments to the AOA Constitution
- Proposed Amendments to the AOA Bylaws
