The Social Media Presence of Professional Sports Team Physicians: An Epidemiological Analysis

Background: Social media utilization is variable across medical specialties but has never been quantified among professional sports team physicians. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose was to identify rates and predictors of social media usage among professional sports team physicians. We hypothesized that the majority of professional sports team physicians would have a social media presence. In addition, private practice physicians would have greater social media utilization than academic physicians. Study design: Cross-sectional study; level of evidence. Methods: Team physicians for professional sports teams in the National Football League (NFL). National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Basketball Association (NBA) were identified and characterized based on training background, practice setting, and geographic location. Rates of overall social media presence and presence on facebook, twitter, linkedIn, instagram, and research gate were determined. Differences between social media users and non- users were analyzed.