Stroke Rehabilitation: Advances in Functional Assessment and Therapeutic Interventions

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About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 17 December 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 6 April 2026

  2. This Research Topic is currently accepting articles.

    1. Check author guidelines

Background

Stroke rehabilitation critically relies on two pillars: precise functional assessment to dynamically track recovery and evidence-based interventions to restore independence. Traditional assessment tools—including clinical scales and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework—provide essential benchmarks but face limitations in sensitivity and standardization, driving ongoing efforts to refine them for diverse clinical needs. Similarly, while single-modality therapies (e.g., neuromodulation techniques like tDCS/FES or traditional approaches like Tai Chi) demonstrate efficacy, their integration into multimodal strategies remains inadequately explored. This Research Topic addresses the urgent need to bridge these gaps, leveraging technological innovations to optimize functional assessment and redefine rehabilitation paradigms.

This Research Topic aims to catalyze advances in stroke rehabilitation by tackling two interconnected challenges. First, revolutionizing functional assessment: we seek to overcome limitations of traditional tools through AI-driven integration of multimodal data (e.g., ICF-coded records, sensor metrics, clinical scores) to enable objective recovery trajectory prediction, automated pattern analysis, and personalized stratification. Second, decoding multimodal intervention synergy: we will critically evaluate whether combining therapies (e.g., Western neuromodulation + traditional physical therapies) yields synergistic (1+1>2), additive (1+1=2), or diminishing returns (1+1<2) for functional outcomes, exploring key questions such as: Does pairing tDCS with Tai Chi enhance motor recovery synergistically? Does sequenced delivery (e.g., acupuncture before FES) outperform concurrent application? How do neuroplasticity mechanisms underpin these interactions? By leveraging AI advances, we seek to advance intelligent functional assessment in stroke rehabilitation while promoting research on multimodal therapy integration to enhance treatment effectiveness.

To advance functional assessment and therapeutic interventions in stroke rehabilitation, this Research Topic welcomes contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

A. Functional Assessment:

• Novel/refined clinical scale development & validation
• ICF framework implementation & adaptation

Special Interest:

• AI/ML-driven innovations (e.g., recovery prediction models; neural network-based modeling of ICF data; sensor-based motion analytics).

B. Therapeutic Interventions:

• Efficacy & mechanisms of single-modality therapies

Special Interest:

• Multimodal integration (e.g., Brain + Limb targeted, Western + traditional therapies)
• Temporal optimization: Sequencing vs. concurrent protocols
• Neurophysiological biomarkers of treatment response

Article types and fees

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

  • Brief Research Report
  • Clinical Trial
  • Editorial
  • FAIR² Data
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion

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
  • Clinical Trial
  • Editorial
  • FAIR² Data
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Review
  • Study Protocol
  • Systematic Review

Keywords: stroke rehabilitation, functional assessment, therapeutic interventions, artificial intelligence, multimodal integration

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.

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