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Life
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Advances in the Rehabilitation of Stroke
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Advances in the Rehabilitation of Stroke

A Special Issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729) belonging to the section "Medical Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 5355

Editor

Dr. Chia Huei Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
2. Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Interests: rehabilitation; nursing; exercise; chronic disease management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, Advances in the Rehabilitation of Stroke, brings together current research and emerging insights aimed at improving outcomes across the continuum of stroke rehabilitation. It welcomes studies that explore innovative interventions, predictive factors, care models, and outcome measures relevant to the acute, post-acute, and chronic phases of recovery. Topics may include the effectiveness of multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs, functional and cognitive assessments, prognostic indicators, health service utilization, and patient-centered care strategies. Collectively, the contributions to this Special Issue aim to support evidence-based practice and foster interdisciplinary dialogue to advance the field of stroke rehabilitation. In addition, research employing any type of study design that contributes to the current knowledge in this area is encouraged for submission.

Dr. Chia Huei Lin
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

Keywords

  • stroke
  • acute stroke
  • chronic stroke
  • post-acute stroke
  • functional recovery
  • rehabilitation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 777 KB  
Article
Phase-Specific Biomechanical Reorganization After Robotic Rehabilitation in Patients with Stroke: A Sensor-Derived Waveform Analysis
by Hande Argunsah, Hülya Şirzai, Yigit Can Gökhan, Güneş Yavuzer and Köksal Holoğlu
Life 2026, 16(6), 956; https://doi.org/10.3390/life16060956 - 5 Jun 2026
Viewed by 398
Abstract
Stroke-related gait impairments are frequently associated with deficits in trunk control, movement coordination, and dynamic stability. Although robotic-assisted gait rehabilitation has shown promising clinical benefits, phase-specific biomechanical adaptations following rehabilitation remain incompletely understood. This study investigated phase-specific biomechanical adaptations following robotic-assisted gait rehabilitation [...] Read more.
Stroke-related gait impairments are frequently associated with deficits in trunk control, movement coordination, and dynamic stability. Although robotic-assisted gait rehabilitation has shown promising clinical benefits, phase-specific biomechanical adaptations following rehabilitation remain incompletely understood. This study investigated phase-specific biomechanical adaptations following robotic-assisted gait rehabilitation in individuals with stroke using sensor-derived waveform analysis. Rehabilitation was performed three times per week over approximately 5–6 weeks using treadmill-based robotic gait training under dynamic body-weight support conditions. Pre- and post-intervention kinematic data were collected using a sensor-based motion analysis system. Joint kinematics, trunk motion, and center of gravity (COG) displacement were analyzed across the normalized gait cycle using waveform-based effect size analysis, statistical parametric mapping, principal component analysis, and k-means clustering to explore inter-individual adaptation patterns. Thirteen post-stroke hemiplegia patients (10 males; age = 63.9 ± 13.8 years), including six subacute and seven chronic stroke survivors, completed 16 rehabilitation sessions. The most prominent improvements were observed in trunk lateral flexion, particularly during loading response (d = 0.47, p < 0.01), indicating enhanced frontal plane trunk stability. Trunk flexion–extension showed reduced compensatory motion, whereas hip and knee adaptations were smaller and phase-dependent. COG displacement decreased across the gait cycle, reflecting improved dynamic stability. Step length increased significantly on both hemiplegic (Δ = +5.73 cm, p = 0.024) and intact sides (Δ = +8.83 cm, p = 0.007), while cadence and load symmetry remained unchanged. Clustering analysis revealed heterogeneous adaptation profiles rather than distinct responder groups. Chronic participants demonstrated greater variability within the Principal Component Analysis space compared to subacute participants, suggesting more variable and individualized biomechanical reorganization patterns rather than clearly separable recovery categories. Overall, robotic rehabilitation induced inter-individual biomechanical adaptations, predominantly involving proximal trunk control and stabilization strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Rehabilitation of Stroke)
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20 pages, 562 KB  
Article
Effectiveness of a Post-Acute-Care Rehabilitation Program in Patients with Stroke: A Retrospective Cohort Study
by Yi-Pang Lo, Mei-Chen Wang, Yao-Hsiang Chen, Shang-Lin Chiang and Chia-Huei Lin
Life 2025, 15(8), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081216 - 1 Aug 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4283
Abstract
Early rehabilitation is essential for restoring functional recovery in patients with stroke, particularly during the early phase of post-acute care (PAC), or the subacute stage. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 7-week PAC rehabilitation program in improving muscle strength, physical performance, [...] Read more.
Early rehabilitation is essential for restoring functional recovery in patients with stroke, particularly during the early phase of post-acute care (PAC), or the subacute stage. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 7-week PAC rehabilitation program in improving muscle strength, physical performance, and functional recovery. A total of 219 inpatients with stroke in the subacute stage were initially recruited from the PAC ward of a regional teaching hospital in Northern Taiwan, with 79 eligible patients—within 1 month of an acute stroke—included in the analysis. The program was delivered 5 days per week, with 3–4 sessions daily (20–30 min each, up to 120 min daily), comprising physical, occupational, and speech–language therapies. Sociodemographic data, muscle strength, physical performance (Berg Balance Scale [BBS], gait speed, and 6-minute walk test [6MWT]), and functional recovery (modified Rankin Scale [mRS], Barthel Index [BI], Instrumental Activities of Daily Living [IADL], and Fugl–Meyer assessment: sensory and upper extremity) were collected at baseline, 3 weeks, and 7 weeks. Generalized estimating equations analyzed program effectiveness. Among the 56 patients (70.9%) who completed the program, significant improvements were observed in the muscle strength of both the affected upper (B = 0.93, p < 0.001) and lower limbs (B = 0.88, p < 0.001), as well as in their corresponding unaffected limbs; in physical performance, including balance (BBS score: B = 9.70, p = 0.003) and gait speed (B = 0.23, p = 0.024); and in functional recovery, including BI (B = 19.5, p < 0.001), IADL (B = 1.48, p < 0.001), and mRS (B = −0.13, p = 0.028). These findings highlight the 7-week PAC rehabilitation program as an effective strategy during the critical recovery phase for patients with stroke. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Rehabilitation of Stroke)
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