Loading
Life sciences · Journal article
Foot & Ankle Specialist · October 8, 2026
No summary has been generated for this record yet. What follows is drawn from its source metadata only.
Journal article.
No findings were extractable from the material analysed.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
The source did not state who this applies to in practice.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
This record has not been graded across any dimension yet. Treat the label above as provisional and read the source.
What is missing. This record has no bottom line, key findings, reported figures, evidence dimensions. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Background Online news media increasingly shapes patient understanding of musculoskeletal disease and influences care-seeking behavior. Foot and ankle (F&A) conditions are managed by overlapping specialties, yet their representation in public-facing media coverage is undefined. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of patient education Google News articles was conducted for 4 foot and ankle pathologies: bunions, flatfoot deformity, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendonitis. Articles published January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026, were retrieved via standardized incognito searches conducted on February 22, 2026. Outcome variables included publisher type, clinician specialty, and clinician demographics. Results Of 835 articles screened, 333 met inclusion criteria, yielding 437 sources quoted. Podiatrists dominated media coverage of bunions (57%), flatfoot deformity (82%), and plantar fasciitis (76%), while orthopaedic surgeons represented the majority of Achilles tendonitis news articles (60%). Overall gender distribution was balanced (50% male), although Achilles tendonitis coverage skewed notably male (77%). Private practice providers outnumbered academic providers across most conditions; Achilles tendonitis was the exception, skewing heavily academic (78%). Conclusions F&A representation in news media varies by condition. Overall, podiatry dominates coverage in F&A news media, revealing inequity in public exposure. The high rate of excluded articles across searches suggests limited substantive media coverage of these pathologies overall. Together, these findings highlight an opportunity to broaden representation in consumer health media, especially from orthopedists and academics. Levels of Evidence: Level IV Evidence: Epidemiology Study (Cross-Sectional Descriptive Analysis)