Patient education is essential for any orthopaedic practice. When patients understand their diagnoses and treatments, they are better able to communicate with their doctors, and they feel more confident about their care.

AAOS developed orthoInfo.org to provide members with a comprehensive library of patient education content that can be easily shared with patients when, where, and how patients need to receive the information.

The site features more than 450 pieces of content, developed and periodically updated by orthopaedic specialists — led by the OrthoInfo Editorial Board — to ensure accuracy and relevance. The content is available in a variety of user-friendly formats, including articles, videos, animations, and print-ready PDFs. A number of articles are available in Spanish.

Here are five ways physicians, providers, and support staff can use OrthoInfo’s content to help their patients and enhance resources available at their practices:

Link to OrthoInfo content from their organization’s website

For instance, you can:

• Add a button linking to the OrthoInfo home page.
• Create a patient education landing page tailored to the practice’s area(s) of focus, with embedded links to relevant OrthoInfo content. Members may link to as much content as they need, free of charge.

The advantage of linking to orthoinfo.org is that patients will always have access to the most up-to-date version of each piece of content every time they click on the link.

Download and print articles and handouts

All OrthoInfo articles are printer-friendly. Simply click on the “print” icon on the left side of each page and save the article as a PDF. The exercise/conditioning handouts are already in PDF format for your convenience. You can:

• Print articles/handouts one at a time — and add handwritten notes, if necessary.
• Print batches to put in the waiting room so patients can peruse before their appointment.

Please note: With the exception of OrthoInfo Basics handouts, OrthoInfo content must be printed as is; co-branding is not permitted without a paid licensing agreement. Learn more about licensing OrthoInfo content below.

Include links to relevant content in a patient’s 'After Visit Summary'

Deliver a personalized educational experience to each patient — from the onset of symptoms and diagnosis through rehabilitation and return to activity — via a patient portal, email, text message, or printed instructions.

For instance, if a patient is diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear, you can provide them links to Rotator Cuff Tears (article), Rotator Cuff Tears: Surgical Treatment Options (article), Rotator Cuff Tears: Frequently Asked Questions (article), Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair (video), and Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Conditioning Program (handout).

License OrthoInfo content

For an annual fee, you can align OrthoInfo content with your organization’s brand identity. Licensing gives your practice, hospital, surgical center, or health system the opportunity to:

• Host OrthoInfo articles* directly on your website(s) — build individual article pages and/or upload PDF versions of the articles. Publishing OrthoInfo content on your website can help with search engine optimization (SEO), drive traffic to your site, and potentially attract new patients. The content can be further leveraged by third-party services like Google Ads, and you can promote it via press releases or your social media channels.
• Co-brand OrthoInfo articles* — add your practice or organization logo to articles and distribute to patients as printed handouts, by attaching to emails or texts, or by uploading into a patient portal. Co-branding visually connects your organization to the trusted leader in advancing musculoskeletal health.

AAOS tailors each agreement to meet the organization’s patient education needs and budget — whether that means licensing articles* related to specific conditions and procedures, the entire library, or anywhere in-between. There are also discounts available for multi-year agreements.

If you are interested in a licensing agreement, please contact the AAOS Commercial Solutions team at hanwell@aaos.org.

*Animations and certain videos are excluded from licensing agreements.