Rehabilitation Strategies for Musculoskeletal Disorders

Musculoskeletal disorders are a significant health challenge, contributing to disability, pain, reduced quality of life, and healthcare costs. Multidisciplinary approaches involving clinical, rehabilitative, and technological innovations are needed to address these conditions. This topic collection aims to provide a comprehensive platform for the dissemination of innovative research and advances in musculoskeletal rehabilitation field.

The scope of the section is focused on advancing the understanding and improving the outcomes of musculoskeletal conditions and encourages a variety of contributions from across the rehabilitation sciences to promote innovative strategies for the assessment, treatment and understanding of musculoskeletal conditions.

The main objective of this collection is to provide an overview of current rehabilitation strategies and to explore advanced technologies for accurate assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders that could promote precise, individualized care and contribute to more effective rehabilitation interventions. These include, but are not limited to, robotics, virtual reality, machine learning algorithms, interventional or mini-interventional approaches, and ultrasound, which provide new ways to assess and monitor musculoskeletal structure and function.

The role of exercise physiology and the effects of different rehabilitation protocols are also key areas of focus because the understanding of the physiological responses to rehabilitation exercise can provide the basis for tailored programs that can optimize recovery, improve functionality, quality of life and prevent relapse.

In addition, for sports injuries and their rehabilitation, from elite athletes to recreational participants, effective rehabilitation strategies are critical to restoring performance and preventing long-term complications.

Moreover, this collection highlights the role of ageing and multimorbidity with musculoskeletal conditions: understanding how age-related changes affect musculoskeletal health is essential for developing age-specific rehabilitation strategies. Similarly, studies that address how multiple chronic conditions interact with musculoskeletal conditions to influence treatment outcomes are critical to advancing comprehensive care.

The theme focuses on the importance of comprehensive rehabilitation strategies, as musculoskeletal conditions remain a leading cause of disability and reduced quality of life worldwide. This multidisciplinary collection aims to promote collaboration between researchers, clinicians and rehabilitation practitioners and to ensure the dissemination of new knowledge in rehabilitation science by providing evidence in the wide field of conventional approaches and promoting innovative strategies for assessment and treatment.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Multidisciplinary approaches, innovative strategies, rehabilitation technologies, musculoskeletal assessment, individualized care, exercise physiology

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.