Chatbots in (sports) orthopedics Opportunities and challenges in the digital age

The German healthcare system, and particularly orthopedics, is confronted with substantial challenges due to increasing health economic constraints, and shortages in staff and resources. In this context, the upcoming digital transformation should strive to support orthopedic surgeons and trauma surgeons in delivering individualized and optimized patient care. Chatbots, technical dialogue systems that enable human interactions with computer-based programs via spoken or written language, are already increasingly being utilized in patient care, propelled by recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). This article discusses the potential and the challenges associated with the use of chatbots throughout the orthopedic treatment pathway of patients, particularly aiming to provide optimal preoperative, perioperative and rehabilitative care to enhance treatment outcomes. In addition to the technology, where a distinction is made between rule-based and AI-driven models, applications in sports orthopedics are analyzed from the initial contact to postoperative care using examples from the current literature. Challenges include liability, data protection, regulatory guidelines and implementation tasks. With the ongoing digitalization in the healthcare system chatbots could potentially be an instrumental tool in positively impacting aspects of the diagnostics, postoperative care, and patient education in orthopedics.