Rehabilitation Through Physical Activity and Sport for People with Disabilities

Dear Colleagues,

Physical activity and therapeutic exercise offer substantial benefits for individuals with disabilities, including enhanced mobility, improved physical function, and positive impacts on mental health and social engagement. Regular participation in physical activity is essential for reducing the risk of secondary health conditions associated with impairment such as functional decline, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, depression, and chronic pain. Sport and physical activity are also facilitators of autonomy, independence, and self-determination among individuals with disabilities as these settings foster social connections and build communication and relational skills necessary for community integration and employment.

Despite these benefits, individuals with disabilities often encounter personal and environmental barriers to movement. As outlined by the International Classification of Functional, Disability and Health (ICF) model, sport and activity can be accessible pathways through which people with disabilities engage life participation across home, work, and community settings, making these opportunities instrumental to holistic rehabilitation efforts for people with disabilities.

Rehabilitation, as defined by the World Health Organization, encompasses a variety of interventions and settings designed to maximize function and engagement in life activities. This Special Issue is designed to identify competitive and non-competitive sport- and physical activity-based outcomes that provide positive rehabilitative outcomes. Our goal is to provide clinicians and researchers with a broad understanding of sport- and physical activity-based opportunities that enhance emotional, social, physical, cognitive, or motor function. Whether sport and activity are primary or ancillary components of rehabilitation, it is clear that these settings afford individuals with disabilities a viable mechanism in which to enhance well-being and quality of life. 

We are pleased to invite you to submit empirical work that demonstrates how sport and physical activity can enhance and optimize rehabilitation and/or community integration outcomes for individuals with disabilities. This Special Issue welcomes studies spanning a broad spectrum from activity-based interventions in inpatient or outpatient settings to outcomes associated with competitive or non-competitive adaptive sport and recreation programs. Contributions should highlight how these approaches support autonomy, independence, physical development, psychological regulation, and social dimensions of rehabilitation.

This Special Issue aims to showcase investigations of clinic- and community-based initiatives that promote functional improvements among individuals with physical, sensory, or intellectual impairments. We welcome a diverse range of contributions, including original quantitative or qualitative research articles, meta-analyses, reviews, case reports, research notes, and short communications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Clinic-based rehabilitation interventions that support emotional, social, cognitive, motor, or physical outcomes.
• Community-based initiatives that foster autonomy, independence, or improvements in emotional, cognitive, motor, or physical domains.
• Acute responses or long-term adaptations to sport participation that contribute to rehabilitation.
• Acute responses and long-term adaptations to physical activity that enhance affective, social, emotional, cognitive, motor, or physical outcomes.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. J.P. Barfield
Dr. Laurie A. Malone
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• people with disabilities
• sport
• physical activity
• therapeutic exercise
• community health services
• exercise therapy
• health promotion
• pain management
• quality of life
• rehabilitation