Artificial Intelligence in Rehabilitation: Latest Research & Practice

From the late 20th century to the present, rehabilitation has evolved by embracing technology, holistic care, community integration, personalized approaches, and telehealth, with a focus on accessibility and equity. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of rehabilitation, enhancing assessment, screening, treatment, monitoring and overall outcomes for individuals undergoing rehabilitation. AI is revolutionizing the restoration and enhancement of physical, mental, or social functioning of people living with physical and cognitive disabilities by personalizing therapies, predicting patient progress, and designing unique-fit assistive technologies. AI in rehabilitation is a relatively emerging field with growing digital health rehabilitation research and development and various tentative initiatives for clinical implementation. These endeavors should be gathered as a collection of academic papers to increase clinical relevance and translate the new knowledge into action.

Rehabilitation technology powered by artificial intelligence represents an innovative and transformative approach in the field of rehabilitation that deserves more exploration and proof of concepts. Research in AI-driven rehabilitation seeks to optimize interventions, enhance accessibility, and tailor approaches, advancing recovery and quality of life for individuals with acute or chronic conditions. This Research Topic aims to cover these topics by including the latest trends and evidence from both rehabilitation engineering and clinical perspectives to inform current practice and further interdisciplinary research and development. The collection will encompass works with a primary focus on individuals facing acute or chronic physical disabilities, neurological conditions and chronic pain. It is envisioned that by providing this Research Topic and allowing sufficient breadth in the submissions accepted similarities and divergence across research endeavors will advance the intellectual synergies in the field which may enhance the overall efforts of implementing AI in rehabilitation.

Papers which focus on the design, evaluation, knowledge synthesis and implementation of artificial intelligence in rehabilitation will be included. It is the goal of this Research Topic to provide a broad platform for publishing the many rapid advances in the field encompassing wearable devices, remote monitoring technologies, internet of things (IoT) devices, mobile health (mHealth) apps, telerehabilitation devices, and video conferencing. Topics covered in this collection include assessment and screening, cognitive training and gamified rehabilitation, motor skills rehabilitation, customized intervention plans, accessibility and inclusive design, and machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) in rehabilitation.

Keywords: AI, technology, rehabilitation, monitoring, innovation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.