Advances in Rehabilitation for Motor Symptoms in Neurodegenerative Disease

Motor symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and other parkinsonism, including progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, spinocerebellar disease, and multiple sclerosis are diverse. They include impairments not only of postural control and gait control but also limb movement control and daily activities. The mechanisms of these motor symptoms are not fully clarified, nor are the methods of assessment and interventions established.
Rehabilitation interventions have been developed in various ways and commonly involve physical exercise, alternative interventions, functional electrical stimulation, motor imagery, action observation, and non-invasive brain stimulations, which are more effective in combination with medical treatment of the motor symptoms. To appropriately intervene in the motor symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, it is necessary to assess the symptoms objectively and to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. Recent research has led to advances in our knowledge of the neural mechanisms involved, the objective assessment tools, and the appropriate rehabilitation interventions to act on the motor symptoms of neurodegenerative disease

This Research topic aims to broaden scientific perspectives by exploring new knowledge on objective assessment, neural mechanisms, and rehabilitation interventions for motor symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases. New findings on objective assessment using clinical scales, motion analysis devices, and wearable sensors, which have been developed in recent years, will lead to a better understanding of the reality of motor symptoms. In addition, new findings from neurophysiological methods and brain imaging are important for deepening insights into the neural mechanisms underlying motor symptoms and for considering effective rehabilitation interventions. Finally, new findings on exercise, functional electrical stimulation, telerehabilitation, and non-invasive brain stimulation will greatly contribute to the development of rehabilitation for improving motor symptoms.

In this Research Topic, motor symptoms include not only gait and postural control disorders, but also upper limb movement disorders and disorders of other activities of daily living. This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, Case Reports, Short article types, and others. The topics could include, but are not limited to:

・Objective analysis of motor symptoms

・Analysis of factors associated with motor symptoms

・Neural mechanisms of motor symptoms by neurophysiological methods and brain imaging (including researches on healthy subjects leading to understanding the neural mechanisms)

・Effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions 

・Neural plasticity