TOPIC

Neurological research

Everything we have read on neurological. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

2,792 PAPERS · PAGE 49 OF 56 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTCohort2025Brain Oscillatory Modes as a Proxy of Stroke Recovery.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn stroke patients, a specific brain signal pattern decreased over time. This decrease was linked to better hand movement recovery in those who improved most. The signal may serve as a biological marker for how well a patient is recovering.
• PTOTCohort2025Linking behavioral variability to daily function in stroke survivors: the mediating role of cognitive and motor mechanisms.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStroke survivors showed more inconsistent performance on simple reaction and movement tasks than matched older adults. In stroke survivors, inconsistency was linked to poorer daily living tasks, and executive control, not muscle strength, helped account for that link. No treatment was tested.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Factors Related to Depression Symptoms in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationIn chronic left-hemisphere stroke survivors, depression symptoms tracked with self-reported communication and cognitive disability, low social participation, and poor perceived recovery. Physical impairment and clinician-scored language severity were unrelated. Screen for mood when patients report daily life struggles.
• PTOTPilot2025Clinical usability and functional outcomes of a lightweight robotic orthosis (HKAFO) in chronic stroke patients with hemiplegic gait: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationChronic stroke patients walked faster and balanced better after training with a lightweight robotic orthosis, but gains appeared mostly while wearing the device. Unassisted endurance changed little. Participants found the device heavy and difficult to put on, preferring their usual walking aids.
• PTOTOther2025Fatigue influences embodiment perception and motor performance in multiple sclerosis subjects: a cross-sectional immersive virtual reality study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFatigued MS patients moved their hands slower and felt less ownership of the virtual body than non-fatigued ones, despite similar disease severity. VR training was highly enjoyable and safe for all, but MS itself did not worsen performance compared to healthy controls.
• PTOTOther2025Lateral weight transfer deficits reveal balance vulnerability in early-stage Parkinson's disease during trip-perturbed walking.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHalf the early Parkinson's participants could not recover stability by the third step after a simulated trip, despite passing standard clinical balance tests. Their failure was linked to reduced lateral weight transfer, suggesting balance deficits are task-specific and require perturbation-based assessment.
• PTOTRCT2025Effects of unilateral lower limb exoskeleton robot on gait improvement and brain function in patients with chronic stroke: a randomized clinical trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding two weeks of unilateral exoskeleton walking training to routine rehab improved walking speed and stride length more than routine rehab alone. It did not improve daily independence, and brain activation changes were only within the robot group.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Neuromodulation effects of low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound in human, a systematic review focusing on motor and sensory functions.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationLow-intensity focused ultrasound changed brain excitability in a dose-dependent way. Specific settings suppressed motor activity during stimulation, while others boosted it for 30 minutes after. The effects were on lab measures, not function. No clinical improvement was shown.
• PTOTSLPMeta-Analysis2025Noninvasive brain stimulation for upper limb motor activity in children and young adults with cerebral palsy and pediatric stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding brain stimulation to therapy did not improve upper limb movement in children with cerebral palsy or stroke. The combined treatment showed no benefit over standard care alone, so clinicians should not expect these stimulation techniques to enhance motor recovery on their own.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2025Mild multiple sclerosis challenges shape work experiences, affect self-concept, and are often trivialized despite disclosure.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesPeople with mild multiple sclerosis who had disclosed their diagnosis still hid work struggles. They feared being seen as incompetent or lazy, not just disabled. This silence prevented managers from making adjustments. Clinicians should discuss specific task barriers, not just the diagnosis, to help patients keep their jobs.
• PTOTPilot2025The Soleus H-Reflex as a Biomarker of Post-Injury Spasticity in Spinal Cord Injury: A Conceptual Pilot Study.NeuroRehabilitationEarly spinal reflex measures correlated with existing spasticity and motor strength at admission, but failed to predict new spasticity by discharge. Reduced post-activation depression was associated with spasticity, yet the small sample prevents clinical use.
• PTOTOther2025Corticomuscular coupling study for post-stroke rehabilitation: a scoping review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationScoping 89 studies, brain-muscle coupling drops in stroke patients, especially distally. It correlates with recovery and guides neuromodulation. But small samples, no unified protocols, and technical noise mean it is not yet a clinical tool.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Changes in tibialis anterior muscle activity following tibial nerve block in adults with spastic equinovarus foot: an observational pilot study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineIn adults with spastic foot, a temporary nerve block improved passive ankle movement and reduced muscle tone. Unexpectedly, activity in the front shin muscle also decreased during walking. This likely reflects reduced struggle against stiffness, not weakness, but actual gait changes were not measured.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025Effectiveness of myoelectric wearable orthoses for upper extremity functional recovery in spinal cord injury- a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 10 people with chronic cervical spinal cord injury, six weeks of training with a myoelectric arm orthosis improved hand range and grip on the trained arm. Between-group differences on the trained arm were not significant. The only significant group difference was for grip strength in the opposite, untrained hand.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025Positive effects of functional electrical stimulation-assisted cycling on perception of effort, cerebral blood flow, and cognition in post-stroke patients.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStroke patients reported significantly lower perceived effort during FES-assisted cycling compared to traditional cycling at the same workload. Cerebral blood flow increased similarly in both conditions, and cognitive benefits were inconsistent, with a potential advantage for FES on one attention task.
• PTOTOther2026The Differential Effects of Fast Walking Speed on Muscle Coactivation in the Paretic and Non-Paretic Extremities Post-Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairFast walking acutely reduced muscle coactivation in the paretic leg, while slow walking increased it. This suggests fast speeds may help restore selective motor control, whereas slow speeds might reinforce stiff, maladaptive patterns.
• PTOTCohort2025Development and psychometric evaluation of an integrative Manual Muscle Test for patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineA new 17-item muscle test for stroke patients takes 15 to 20 minutes and scores both movement range and strength. It reliably distinguishes normal movement from spastic synergy and correlates strongly with balance and walking ability.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Cognitive Impairments Impact Functional Mobility in Stroke Survivors.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairStroke survivors with cognitive impairment showed worse balance, walking, and driving than cognitively normal survivors, despite similar motor strength. Driving performance was the most affected area. Cognitive deficits impact mobility independently of physical weakness, suggesting routine cognitive screening is vital for safe mobility planning.
• PTOTCase-Control2025Foot placement coordination is impaired in people with Parkinson's disease.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPeople with Parkinson's disease place their feet less precisely than healthy adults, with errors of 3 to 4 mm. This loss of fine control occurs even when walking speed is normal, suggesting a specific deficit in how the body coordinates steps to maintain balance.
• OTOther2025Stage-specific EMG feature optimization for enhanced post-stroke hand gesture recognition.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationDifferent muscle-signal features worked best for different Brunnstrom recovery stages in 13 post-stroke patients, improving hand gesture recognition. No patient outcomes were tested, so this is a wearable system design finding.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Evaluation of sonographic ulnar nerve cross-sectional area cutoff values at and around the medial epicondyle for diagnosing ulnar neuropathy at the elbow in wheelchair users.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineA 10 mm² ulnar nerve size on ultrasound is highly specific for cubital tunnel syndrome in wheelchair users, making it useful for confirming the diagnosis. However, sensitivity was low, so a normal scan does not rule out the condition.
• PTOTRCT2025The impact of bimanual reach training with augmented position sense feedback on post-stroke upper limb somatosensory and motor impairment.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationBimanual robot training improved position sense and motor impairment in chronic stroke patients, but adding force-coupling to the less-affected arm provided no benefit over visual feedback alone. Both groups improved similarly, suggesting the active practice itself drives recovery.
• PTOTPilot2025EMG-guided human-machine interaction training develops new intermuscular coordination patterns in stroke: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFour stroke survivors learned to separate two co-activating arm muscles using EMG feedback over six weeks. This changed how their muscles coordinated and improved reaching and wrist movement, but the study was too small to prove the method works.
• PTOTRCT2025Comparison of Body Weight Support-Assisted Balance and Gait Training With or Without Balance Perturbations in Poststroke Rehabilitation: Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesAdding eight balance perturbations to body-weight supported gait training did not improve balance, confidence, or walking speed more than standard training alone in poststroke inpatients. Both groups improved similarly. The added perturbation module offers no functional advantage over standard care in this setting.
• PTOTRCT2025High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for stroke patients lower extremity function: primary motor cortex versus cerebellar stimulation. A randomized controlled trial.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineAfter stroke, two weeks of high-frequency brain stimulation to the motor cortex or cerebellum, with conventional rehab and medication, improved lower-limb function and balance more than sham. The contribution of brain stimulation alone cannot be separated from the other treatments.
• PTOTRCT2025The Berlin bimanual test for stroke survivors (BeBiT-S): evaluating exoskeleton-assisted bimanual motor function after stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA new 10-task bimanual test for stroke survivors scored reliably and agreed with existing hand function scores. With a brain-controlled hand exoskeleton, 15 participants scored higher on the test, mainly in grasping and stabilizing.
• PTOTCase-Control2025Inter-segmental coordination patterns in Parkinson's disease are particularly disturbed during preferred walking speed: a data-driven network approach.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPeople with Parkinson's disease show severely disturbed whole-body coordination during their preferred walking speed, but much less so when walking fast or slow. The overall movement structure remains intact, but variability is higher, suggesting the automatic nature of normal-speed walking is the main challenge.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Upper extremity pain after stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis on primary prevention.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineMost common prevention methods like slings, taping, and exercises did not significantly reduce upper limb pain after stroke. Only intramuscular injections showed potential benefit, but evidence was very weak. Current guidelines lack strong data to support specific preventive strategies.
• PTOTPilot2025Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation and static balance in parkinson's disease: a multimodal resting‑state fMRI feasibility study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 41 patients with Parkinson's, one session of noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation improved Berg Balance scores immediately and at one week. Functional reach and discomfort also improved, but Timed Up and Go did not change significantly at first. No sham group was used.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Understanding and Assessing Health-Related Quality of Life in Caregivers of Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury and Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationCare partners of people with both traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder report significantly worse quality of life than those caring for brain injury alone. These caregivers face unique strain beyond physical disability or hours spent caregiving, marking them for targeted support.
• PTOTSLPRCT2026Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a moderator of the efficacy of family-based problem solving after pediatric traumatic brain injury.Rehabilitation psychologyFamily-based problem solving improved daily functioning in teens without ADHD, but not those with pre-injury ADHD. Teens who developed ADHD after injury showed delayed gains at 18 months. Identify ADHD history before prescribing this intervention.
• PTOTOther2025Towards AI-based precision rehabilitation via contextual model-based reinforcement learning.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA proposed AI dose-scheduler outperformed fixed upper-limb therapy schedules in synthetic stroke simulations, but it was not tested in people, so it cannot change clinic practice yet.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Artificial intelligence in rehabilitation: a living systematic mapping review - first release.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineMost AI research in rehabilitation is small, internal, and focused on stroke or gait, with very few trials testing real clinical benefit. Half the studies had no comparison group, and external validation was rare, so these tools are not yet proven to improve patient outcomes.
• PTOTRCT2025Motor imagery training promotes motor learning and brain plasticity without fatigability in people with progressive multiple sclerosis.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicinePhysical finger training caused fatigue and failed to improve speed in people with progressive MS. Imagining the same movements improved speed and brain excitability without causing fatigue, though gains did not last an hour.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025Haptic interaction with a human partner for ankle training in chronic stroke: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFor ankle training in stroke, partnering with a therapist via robots felt similar to robotic guidance but didn't improve movement accuracy more. The partner method did increase dorsiflexor muscle activation after training, suggesting it may encourage more active effort.
• PTOTRCT2025Effects of mirror therapy preceding augmented reality in stroke rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding mirror therapy before augmented reality games improved upper limb motor function and sensation more than AR games alone or conventional therapy in stroke survivors. Both AR groups improved balance better than conventional therapy, with gains maintained at three months.
• PTOTRCT2025Efficacy of bilateral soft exoskeleton training for people with subacute stroke: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding bilateral soft exoskeleton assistance to standard treadmill training improved walking speed, gait symmetry, and independence more than conventional training alone in people with subacute stroke. The exoskeleton group gained 0.17 m/s in speed, exceeding the threshold for meaningful change.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Technologies for the three-dimensional assessment and treatment of unilateral spatial neglect in individuals with stroke: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationVirtual reality is the dominant 3D technology for neglect, but evidence remains weak. Randomised trials show inconsistent results, with many failing to find significant differences against conventional therapy. Robotics are rarely used alone, and most studies are small pilots without clear efficacy.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Long-lasting neurobehavioral disorders after traumatic brain injury: potential predictors and functional outcomes.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineIn 54 survivors of severe traumatic brain injury, longer post-traumatic amnesia, lower cognitive function at rehabilitation admission, traumatic axonal injury, and less education were associated with more neurobehavioral disorders at 12 months. These disorders correlated with worse functional outcomes.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Interrelationship between fatigue and recovery of physical function in stroke survivors: a longitudinal mixed-methods study.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineHigher fatigue was linked to poorer physical function over six months after stroke. Survivors described fatigue as shifting between physical and mental, and seven participants said health professionals gave little guidance.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Development and validation of interpretability cutoffs for the short forms of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust Personality Questionnaires (BIRT-PQs).European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineNew score cutoffs identify when personality changes after brain injury deviate significantly from healthy norms. For patients, low motivation scores above 25 linked to lower satisfaction across all life domains. For caregivers, emotional regulation scores above 13 linked to higher burden. These thresholds help interpret short-form questionnaires.
• PTOTRCT2025Adaptive control ankle robotics training durably improves gait biomechanics in chronic hemiparetic stroke and footdrop.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAnkle robotics training improved toe clearance and heel-strike patterns in chronic stroke survivors. These gains persisted two months after training ended, alongside delayed increases in knee and hip flexion. The study was single-arm, so improvements cannot be compared against standard care.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Tools and methods for assessing the usability and related aspects of usability of extended reality and telerehabilitation technologies in stroke rehabilitation: a scoping review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationMost usability studies of stroke technology, including virtual reality and remote rehabilitation, used questionnaires, especially the System Usability Scale and custom forms. Many studies combined tools to cover different aspects, so check motivation, motion sickness, workload and patient experience when choosing technology.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Can wearable real-time biofeedback gait training devices improve gait speed, balance, functional mobility and activities of daily living (ADL) in individuals post-stroke? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationWearable biofeedback gait training improved walking speed, balance, and mobility compared to standard care, but showed no benefit for daily living activities. Evidence quality is low to moderate, with no significant effect found for the most common auditory feedback setups.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2026Standardizing the Measurement and Definition of Post-Stroke Cognitive Impairment: Implications for Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairThere is no agreed-upon definition or standard measurement for post-stroke cognitive impairment. This variability makes it hard to compare studies or identify which patients need specific rehabilitation. Experts recommend creating a consensus definition, similar to how mild cognitive impairment was standardized, to improve care.
• OTOther2026Beyond the Wrist: Finger-Worn Accelerometers Enhance Assessment of Post-Stroke Motor Performance.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 24 stroke survivors, a finger-worn sensor matched clinical hand scores better than a wrist sensor, especially in moderate impairment. It may help assess real-world arm and hand use, but it is not proven to improve treatment.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Effectiveness of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation for lower limb rehabilitation in spinal cord injury: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationEvidence for non-invasive spinal stimulation to improve leg function after spinal cord injury is very uncertain. One high-quality trial showed modest gains in strength and walking speed, but most studies had mixed or null results. It appears safe, with only minor skin irritation reported.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Effective and Efficient Rehabilitation. What Works Best for Persons With SCI During (Sub)Acute Phase of Rehabilitation?Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationComprehensive inpatient rehabilitation for spinal cord injury improved independence scores by an average of 35.7 points. Gains varied significantly by injury severity, with patients with AIS D injuries showing the highest effectiveness and those with C1-C4 injuries the lowest.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Efficacy of Acupuncture Combined With Robotic Therapy in the Treatment of Limb Dysfunction After Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAdding acupuncture to robot therapy improved daily living scores by 7 points, exceeding the clinically important threshold. However, gains in limb motor function were only 5 points, falling short of the 6-point threshold needed to be considered clinically meaningful.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Health-Related Quality of Life in Survivors of Stroke Post Inpatient Rehabilitation Discharged to a Home Setting.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationFor stroke survivors returning home from rehab, quality of life was best predicted by how well they could move, think, and manage anxiety or depression. Age, income, and initial stroke severity did not significantly predict quality of life.