JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies

Postoperative rehabilitation is essential to improve quality of life (QoL), pain control, and upper limb function in women undergoing surgery for breast cancer (BC). Telerehabilitation has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional rehabilitation, especially in patients with limited access to care, but its comparative efficacy remains uncertain.

Impaired balance regulation after stroke puts patients and therapists at a heightened risk of injury during rehabilitation. Body weight support systems (BWSS) allow patients to safely conduct gait and balance training while minimizing risk and the fear of falling. Integrating perturbation-based balance training (PBT) modules with a BWSS may lead to further improvements.

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a common treatment for degenerative cervical spine disease, yet its frequent postoperative follow-up places substantial demands on both patients and healthcare systems. A digital program integrating computer-vision–guided exercise, wearable posture monitoring, and cognitive-behavioral therapy could provide remote monitoring and rehabilitation to alleviate this burden.

Return-to-play (RTP) guidelines for concussion recommend a multimodal approach to assess recovery including symptoms, balance, exertion tolerance, and cognition. However, existing assessments do not reflect the speed or complexity of multidomain skill integration in sport. We developed R2Play, a dynamic multidomain RTP assessment tool, and previously established proof-of-concept by demonstrating alignment with design objectives.

There is a growing interest in the influence of variables that may negatively influence the reasoning of health care professionals, namely intolerance of uncertainty, defined as health care professionals’ difficulty tolerating ambiguous situations that often trigger discomfort, overtesting, and suboptimal treatment choices, and resource consumption, defined as the ordering of unnecessary diagnostic tests that can waste resources and compromise decision‐making.

Knee osteoarthritis is a major global health burden, and exercise is a core recommended treatment. Tai Chi is an evidence-based exercise shown to improve symptoms in people with knee osteoarthritis. However, traditional in-person delivery can limit accessibility. To address this, we developed a 12-week unsupervised online Tai Chi intervention and demonstrated its clinical effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). This RCT compared the Tai Chi program plus educational information and an exercise adherence support app (intervention) with online education alone (control) for people with knee osteoarthritis. While the intervention improved pain and function, participants’ engagement and experiences with the online delivery format remain unclear. Understanding these perspectives is critical for improving future digital exercise interventions.

The prevalence of upper limb impairment ranges from 40-50% in the chronic phase of stroke, presenting a significant public health challenge. While traditional therapy effectively improves hand motor function, it often faces accessibility challenges. Telerehabilitation, particularly smart device-based therapy, provides a scalable and engaging alternative, though its effectiveness still requires further investigation.

Action Observation combined with Motor Imagery (AO+MI) training is considered a potentially effective approach for improving motor function in post-stroke patients. Therefore, it is important to review and analyze the existing research evidence of its effectiveness.

Upper limb (UL) impairments following conditions such as stroke and spinal cord injury contribute significantly to long-term disability. Many stroke survivors face limited access to rehabilitation due to geographical, financial, or scheduling barriers, leaving unmet therapeutic needs.

The high incidence and prevalence of upper limb impairment post-stroke highlights the need for advancements in rehabilitation. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) represent a promising technology by directly training the central nervous system. The integration of motor imagery (MI) and motor observation (MO) through virtual reality (VR) using BCIs provides valuable opportunities for rehabilitation. However, the diversity in intervention designs demonstrates the lack of guiding recommendations integrating neurorehabilitation principles for BCI.

People with moderate to severe intellectual disability can have difficulties accessing leisure stimuli and engaging in basic cognitive and physical activity independently. These difficulties may be even more marked in individuals with a combination of intellectual disability and sensory or sensory-motor impairments.

Providing integrated care is essential in pediatric rehabilitation, as children with disabilities often navigate complex, long-term pathways involving multiple professionals across health, education, and community services. Strengthening communication and partnership among children, families, and professionals is key to supporting meaningful participation in daily life. Shared digital health portals offer a promising solution to support integrated care, yet their potential remains underexplored in this context.