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.

3,875 PAPERS · PAGE 74 OF 78 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOther2026Cerebral cortical activation and functional connectivity characteristics of children with unilateral cerebral palsy during a single-session virtual reality throwing motor task: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesIn 35 children with unilateral cerebral palsy, one session of VR throwing raised activity in the affected side's sensorimotor and prefrontal cortex more than the same throwing without VR. It is a brain-response study only: no one measured whether movement improved.
• PTCohort2026Impact of Physical Activity on Clinical Outcomes in Veterans Completing the VA's Traumatic Brain Injury Screening and Evaluation Program.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationVeterans who screened positive for TBI reported worse mental health, cognition and quality of life, and those who exercised more reported better outcomes on every measure. This is observational data, so it cannot show that activity caused the improvement.
• PTOTCohort2026Early post-hospital trajectories of health-related quality of life for younger adult patients with traumatic brain injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationMental quality of life did not improve over 8 weeks after hospital discharge for traumatic brain injury. Physical quality of life did improve, from 30.5 to 34.8 out of 100, still below the 43 to 47 the scale treats as low quality of life.
• PTSystematic Review2026Precision Rehabilitation in Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review of Omics Applications for Intervention Monitoring in Spinal Cord Injury.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationMolecular tests on blood, muscle and stool did change after exercise, electrical stimulation, diet and hormone treatments for spinal cord injury, but nearly all 23 studies were small, short and rated only moderate quality. None of it is ready to guide treatment.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026Do Leg-Focused Exercises Improve Arm and Hand Function for Individuals With Neurologic Disorders? A Scoping Review.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationLeg training came with better arm and hand function in half of 12 small studies; the other half found no change, and none found harm. Almost none of the studies actually tested this, so it is a research question, not a treatment.
• PTOTQualitative2026Life after the hospital: Lived experience of people with traumatic spinal cord injury in a resource-constrained setting - a qualitative study.The South African journal of physiotherapyFor these 19 Rwandans with spinal cord injury, losing income and their sense of value shaped daily life. Family support and contact with others with the same injury helped; inaccessible homes, ill-fitting donated wheelchairs and public attitudes kept people out.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Interventions on Participation in Children and Adolescents With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAround 840 children and teenagers with one-sided cerebral palsy improved on participation measures after rehabilitation, but no study compared therapy with no treatment, and no single therapy beat another.
• PTOTOther2026Quantification of Lower Extremity Dressing Movements in Patients With Stroke.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationHow a stroke patient raises their trousers differs with how much help they need. Those needing supervision or hands-on help put much less weight through the affected leg and used different trunk and pelvic movement than those who were independent.
• PTCase Series2026Feasibility and safety of training with an exoskeletal robotic device for Japanese individuals with spinal cord injuries: a retrospective study.Journal of physical therapy scienceSeventeen of 28 adults with spinal cord injury walked with the ReWalk exoskeleton and crutches under close supervision. 12 walked indoors on the flat, five outdoors including slopes. Eight dropped out or needed substantial help, and skin problems were more common than in earlier studies.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Efficacy of Shorter Duration Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT) Programs.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationLower-dose constraint-induced movement therapy (under 39 hours of supervised training plus at least 10 hours a day of restraint) improved arm function after chronic stroke in 5 trials, but only real-world arm use held up at follow-up. Evidence quality was rated very low.
• PTOther2026The relationship between corticospinal tract and the affected lower limb function and walking ability in subacute stroke patients: a preliminary study.Journal of physical therapy scienceThe more intact the nerve fibres running from the brain to the spinal cord, the better the affected leg moved and the better the person walked, in people weeks after a stroke. This is a link, not proof of cause.
• PTOther2026Minimum Detectable Change and Minimal Clinically Important Difference for the Box and Block Test and Fugl-Meyer Assessment in Moderate to Severe Chronic Stroke.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationThe Box and Block Test cannot be trusted in severe arm impairment. When the Fugl-Meyer arm score is 18 or below, more than a fifth of patients score zero blocks. Above that, larger gains are needed to beat measurement error.
• PTCohort2026Quality of Life Assessment Using the Leg Activity Measure in Ambulatory Individuals With Leg Spasticity: Findings From a Longitudinal, Observational Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of AbobotulinumtoxinA in Routine Practice.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationQuality of life scores improved over the first four treatment cycles in 384 adults who could still walk and received repeated abobotulinumtoxinA injections for leg spasticity. Without a control group, the improvement cannot be attributed to the injections.
• PTOTQualitative2025What stroke survivors say about living with upper limb spasticity and how they manage it.Australian occupational therapy journalStroke survivors with upper limb spasticity described life as continuous adaptation: expecting, learning, practising, evaluating, moving forward. They devised their own strategies, such as a paint roller holder worn at night to keep the hand open, and chose what services and equipment to use.
• PTCohort2026Investigating the clinical pattern of motor relearning in people with multiple sclerosis.Archives of physiotherapyBerg Balance Scale scores in 44 people with multiple sclerosis rose from 42.31 to 48.75 points over about 16 sessions, improving fastest in the first two sessions and then more slowly. Those given balance-specific training learned faster, but the comparison was not randomised.
• PTCohort2026Early mobilization in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a prospective observational study.Physical therapyMobilisation began early for most: 90 of 102 started physical therapy within two weeks of aneurysm repair, a median of four sessions. Barriers such as drowsiness or unstable blood pressure prevented a third of attempts, and 8.3% ended early for safety concerns, none serious.
• PTOther2026Physical Strain During Walking in Adults With Cerebral Palsy: A Construct Validity Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationWalking at their own preferred pace takes a median 50% of adults' maximum aerobic capacity in this group with cerebral palsy, rising to 78% in those with the most affected walking. The effort is high even when measured fitness looks normal.
• PTOther2026Measurement Properties and Minimal Detectable Change of the 6-Min Step Test for Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Hospitalized Individuals After Stroke.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyThe 6-minute step test gave consistent results when repeated by the same physiotherapist or a different one in 51 people hospitalised early after stroke. A change of 21 steps is needed before a real improvement can be assumed.
• PTCohort2026Unmet Needs for Community-Based Rehabilitation the First 12 Months Postinjury in a Traumatic Brain Injury Population with Moderate-to-Severe Trauma-a Longitudinal Cohort Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAt 12 months, 42.1% of 178 people with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury still reported unmet rehabilitation needs, most often too little therapy intensity and vocational support. More severe head injury, worse function at 6 months and living outside a city predicted this.
• PTOTPilot2026Changes in body composition and safety of exercise for individuals with severe cerebral palsy: single-group pre-post observational study.Journal of physical therapy sciencePassive exercise for three months caused no harm in 11 adults with GMFCS level V cerebral palsy, but did not measurably change muscle mass or swelling. Trunk and right leg fluid had already risen by the three-month mark.
• PTPilot2026Implementing Co-innovation to Develop an Accessible, Web-Based Exercise Program for People with Multiple Sclerosis.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationNo falls or other adverse events were reported across 15 people with multiple sclerosis who completed two 6-week rounds of a web-based exercise programme they helped design. Walking endurance and mobility improved, but there was no control group.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026Effects of hydrokinesitherapy on balance and walking ability for stroke survivors: update of a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineWater-based exercise improved stroke survivors' balance on some tests but not others: Berg Balance Scale scores improved by a moderate amount, while the Timed Up and Go did not. Evidence was insufficient for walking ability or daily activities.
• PTOTSurvey2026Living with spinal cord injury in the community of Bangladesh: a comprehensive analysis using the ICF framework.Journal of rehabilitation medicinePeople with tetraplegia reported worse function, more environmental barriers and lower confidence than those with paraplegia in a survey of 789 adults with spinal cord injury in Bangladesh. Pain, muscle tone problems, poor sleep and low mood were common in both groups.
• PTOther2026Measurement Properties of the Functional Balance Ability Measure Across Subacute Neurologic Diagnoses.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationA balance measure built from the Berg Balance Scale and Functional Gait Assessment items can be read the same way in stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neurologic conditions. It cannot tell apart people with the lowest balance: 21% scored the minimum.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Effectiveness of psychoeducational intervention in promoting post-stroke self-care: a systematic literature review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesHalf of the eight trials found no improvement in their main outcome after psychoeducation was added to stroke rehabilitation; the other half reported better self-care, self-efficacy, quality of life or caregiver burden. No trial tested education alone, and results could not be pooled.
• PTRCT2025Complex Exercises Improve Cognition in People With Parkinson's Disease and Freezing of Gait.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairComplex resistance training on unstable surfaces improved frontal lobe function, global cognition and attention in people with Parkinson's disease and freezing of gait, more than plain exercise. Better frontal lobe scores explained 43% of the drop in freezing.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Effect of virtual reality-based upper limb training on activity of daily living and quality of life among stroke survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding game-based virtual reality to stroke upper limb rehabilitation, or using it on its own, improved daily activity scores more than conventional therapy alone, and immersive headsets did better than screens. Quality-of-life results look bigger but rest on only eight trials.
• PTRCT2022Predicting upper extremity motor improvement following therapy using EEG-based connectivity in chronic stroke.NeuroRehabilitationGreater EEG connectivity between the same-side motor and sensory areas before therapy went with a bigger gain on the block-moving test after two weeks of task practice, in 12 people with chronic stroke. The link was the same in both treatment groups.
• PTMeta-Analysis2022Efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for improving lower limb function in individuals with neurological disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized sham-controlled trials.Journal of rehabilitation medicineReal rTMS added to rehabilitation improved walking and lower limb muscle strength more than sham, but had no clear effect on mobility or balance. Over half of the comparisons the review planned to pool had no usable data, so the estimates are uncertain.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Upper limb motor recovery in chronic stroke-longitudinal aggregate analysis from control group outcomes.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesIn chronic stroke, control groups given general exercise rather than targeted arm therapy gained 0.9 points on the 66-point Fugl-Meyer arm scale, well short of the 4.25 to 7.25 points that marks a real change.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Safety and effectiveness of non-invasive brain stimulation on mobility and balance function in children with cerebral palsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationNon-invasive brain stimulation plus other training improved walking distance, gait speed and gross motor scores in children with cerebral palsy; balance and Timed Up and Go did not improve. Stimulation was mostly combined with training, so its own contribution is unclear.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Limited Evidence of Functional Benefit After Upper Limb Botulinum Toxin Treatment in Children With Cerebral Palsy: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationBotulinum toxin into the upper limb lowers muscle tone and spasticity in children with cerebral palsy, and parents report improvement, but the arm does not clearly work better. Grip strength drops while the toxin is active.
• PTOTRCT2025A Randomized Control Trial of a Virtually Delivered Program for Increasing Upper Limb Activity After Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairA three-week virtual upper limb programme (twice-daily home exercises, a wrist-worn movement counter with feedback, and six therapist video sessions) produced 368 more reach-and-grasp movements a day than usual care at four weeks. The difference only just reached significance (P = .046).
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2023Prevalence and risks factors of caregiving-related low back pain among caregivers of stroke survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineAbout half of people caring for a stroke survivor get low back pain from caregiving (53.9% pooled across the 5 included studies). In the pooled analysis, men and women did not differ significantly, and neither did partial and complete caregivers.
• PTRCT2022Methodologic implications for rehabilitation research: Differences in heart rate variability introduced by respiration.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationNormal breathing during heart rate variability recording inflates low-frequency power and skews a commonly reported ratio, because breathing itself shows up in that signal. Pacing people at 15 breaths a minute removed the confusion, and the two recordings disagreed too much to be used interchangeably.
• PTOTRCT2022Efficacy and feasibility of SENSory relearning of the UPPer limb (SENSUPP) in people with chronic stroke: A pilot randomized controlled trial.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationAdding sensory relearning to task-specific training improved touch thresholds more than task training alone in 27 people with chronic stroke, but no other measure differed between the groups. Both groups improved in daily hand use, and the trial was too small to confirm benefit.
• PTRCT2022Structured guideline-based physiotherapy reduces difficulties in activities of daily living in Parkinson's disease.NeuroRehabilitationEight weeks of twice-weekly group physiotherapy built around Parkinson's guideline recommendations reduced how hard 24 people with Parkinson's found everyday activities. The control group, who had usual care, did not improve. The trial was small and the outcome measure was new.
• PTRCT2022Does electrical stimulation synchronized with ankle movements better improve ankle proprioception and gait kinematics in chronic stroke? A randomized controlled study.NeuroRehabilitationTiming electrical stimulation to passive ankle movement did not improve ankle proprioception in chronic stroke. It did beat stimulation alone for ankle range of motion into supination and pronation and for dorsiflexion strength, but balance, walking speed and function did not differ between groups.
• PTSystematic Review2021Behavior Change Techniques in Physical Activity Interventions for Multiple Sclerosis.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationThe most common ingredients in physical activity programs for MS were instruction in the activity, social support, a credible source and demonstration. Programs using 15 or more techniques were more likely to report activity rising, but the review cannot tell which technique mattered.
• PTMeta-Analysis2025Efficacy of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Over the Supplementary Motor Area on Motor Function in Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-analysis.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationAcross seven trials of 374 people with Parkinson's disease, rTMS aimed at the supplementary motor area improved UPDRS-III motor scores more than sham. The trials disagreed widely, so how big that benefit is remains uncertain.
• PTRCT2025Gait Responses in People with Parkinson Disease During Autonomous Closed-loop Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation: An Exploratory Analysis.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairAll 13 participants sped up when the system raised the music tempo mid-walk, taking faster, longer steps and keeping roughly to the beat. Their walking rhythm did not get steadier during the walk, and six weeks of use changed little.
• PTSystematic Review2024Do proprioceptive training strategies with dual-task exercises positively influence gait parameters in chronic stroke? A systematic review.Journal of rehabilitation medicineTherapy that adds a second task to balance and walking work was followed by faster walking, longer steps and higher cadence in adults more than six months after stroke. The 11 studies were too varied to pool, so no single version is proven better.
• PTSystematic Review2024Exercise-based telerehabilitation for patients with multiple sclerosis using physical activity: a systematic review.Journal of rehabilitation medicineSix of ten trials found telerehabilitation beat usual care for walking, strength or motor function in multiple sclerosis, but the trials tested different exercises, outcomes and lengths, so no particular programme can be recommended. Adherence fell as programmes got longer.
• PTRCT2023Associations between protective resources and family functioning after traumatic brain injury: A cross-sectional study using a structural equation modeling approach.NeuroRehabilitationAcross 122 people with TBI and their family members, higher resilience, self-efficacy and mental health quality of life went with better family functioning: more cohesion, flexibility, communication and satisfaction. The link was strong but everything was measured at one time, so it cannot show which comes first.
• PTRCT2023The effects of dynamic motion instability system training on motor function and balance after stroke: A randomized trial.NeuroRehabilitationAdding 20 minutes of standing sliding-plate training to conventional rehabilitation improved lower-limb movement and walking more than conventional rehabilitation plus general balance training. Balance scores improved by the same amount in both groups.
• PTMeta-Analysis2022Effect of muscle strength training in children and adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitationIn children and adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy, strength training gave small gains in lower-limb strength and walking speed, larger gains in standing balance, and small improvements in gross motor function. It did not make spasticity worse.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022Feasibility, Acceptability, and Efficacy of Mindfulness Training in People With Upper Motor Neuron Disorders: A Systematic Review.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationIn MS, brain injury, spinal cord injury and ALS, 85% of people who started a mindfulness programme finished it, and satisfaction averaged 4.6 out of 5. Depression, anxiety and fatigue fell, but far less when the comparison group got another active treatment.
• PTMeta-Analysis2025The Detrimental Effect of Stroke on Motor Adaptation.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairPeople who had a stroke adapted to a disrupted reaching, eye-movement or walking task less well than age-matched controls, a medium-sized gap. Late adaptation was reduced as well, and reaching and walking tasks were affected to a similar degree.
• PTRCT2023Extrinsic feedback facilitates mental chronometry abilities in stroke patients.NeuroRehabilitationTelling stroke patients how far their imagined movement time was from their actual time made their mental timing more accurate, and it stayed better the next day. Mental practice without that feedback changed nothing; hand speed improved in all groups.
• PTMeta-Analysis2025Measurement Properties of the BESTest Scale in People With Neurological Conditions: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.Physical therapyThe BESTest gives consistent balance scores whether the same assessor repeats it or a different one does, and scores change after balance training. It is unclear whether it measures one ability or several, and translated versions are unchecked.