Advances in Technology-Assisted Rehabilitation

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Background

According to a 2005 report of the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide – 16% of the global population – experienced significant disability. This number has only been increasing due to population ageing and an increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Rehabilitation addresses the impact of a health condition on a person’s everyday life, by optimizing their function and reducing the experience of disability. Rehabilitation ensures people with a health condition can remain as independent as possible and participate in education, work, and meaningful life roles. Global demographic and health trends, such as population ageing, medical staffing shortages, rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases, as well as continued consequences of conflict, injury and developmental conditions are placing increasing demands on the health care systems. The need for quality rehabilitation is rapidly growing, yet in many parts of the world this need is largely unmet.

Technology-assisted rehabilitation may contribute to the solution of the dilemma of increasing needs for high-quality rehabilitation in an effective and efficient way. One type of rehabilitation technology can support professionals, such as physical and occupational therapists, in providing physically demanding treatments to patients to exploit their maximum potential to live an independent life again. The other type of rehabilitation technologies, such as prostheses and orthoses, can directly assist and support people with disabilities to achieve their goals in their daily lives. For example, these technologies can help restore mobility and function by replacing lost anatomical structures, such as after an amputation, and/or diminished or lost function due to injury or central nervous or neuromuscular disorders.

Due to increasing personnel shortages in rehabilitation professionals and caregivers, specifically in the developed countries, the importance of both types of technology-assisted rehabilitation will inevitably grow. Therefore, it appears prudent to research both the medical and cost-effectiveness of these rehabilitation technologies and create a dedicated venue for the publication of such research.

We invite all researchers and clinicians in the fields of prosthetics, orthotics, assistive technologies and technology-assisted physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation to submit manuscripts for consideration in this Research Topic. Manuscripts may range from literature reviews to original research. We encourage submission of interdisciplinary projects, papers with strong implications for practice, and with a high potential for translation into clinical practice. We welcome research that encompass the following:

• Clinical effectiveness of surgical methods to improve usability and functionality of prosthetic, orthotic, and other assistive technologies, such as bone-anchored interfaces, targeted muscle reinnervation, etc.

• Clinical effectiveness of prosthetics, orthotics, and other assistive technologies that support patients in their everyday lives.

• Clinical effectiveness of technology-assisted physical or occupational therapy approaches.

• Development of novel surgical methods and implants to improve usability and functionality of prosthetic, orthotic, and other assistive technologies.

• Development of prosthetic, orthotic, and other assistive technologies intended to support patients in their daily lives.

• Development of rehabilitative technology that uses physiological and/or environmental data to provide individualized treatment.

• Use of novel physiological and/or objective metrics to provide patient-specific rehabilitative interventions.

• Development and/or application of Brain-Computer Interfaces with rehabilitative potential.

Keywords: Rehabilitation, Assistive technology, Prosthetics, Orthotics, Robotics, Technology-assisted therapy, Technology-assisted rehabilitation

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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