Caution on YouTube videos for nerve pain

Pain

26 Oct 2015

Approximately half of the treatment options discussed in YouTube videos on peripheral neuropathy are not evidence based, researchers report.

And only a minority of treatment discussions were based on recommendations by the American Academy of Neurology, the study of  200 YouTube videos on peripheral neuropathy found.

Alternative medicine was cited most frequently among the treatment discussions, followed by devices and pharmacological treatments.

“Caution should be exercised when YouTube videos are used as a source of information for the treatment of neuropathy,” said Dr. Harsh Gupta, neurologist and lead author of the study published in Muscle and Nerve.

“With the ever-increasing reach of YouTube to our patients, a stronger presence of neurologists in this social medium is needed.”

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