Poststroke eHealth Technologies-Based Rehabilitation for Upper Limb Recovery: Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Neurorehabilitation
• Digital Health
• Stroke Recovery

Background:

• Stroke is a leading cause of disability, with upper limb impairment affecting 80% of survivors.
• Conventional rehabilitation faces barriers like cost and accessibility.
• eHealth offers accessible, cost-effective, and engaging rehabilitation solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• Synthesize evidence on eHealth interventions for poststroke upper limb recovery.
• Evaluate if eHealth therapies are superior or equal to conventional therapies.
• Identify clinical considerations for low-cost eHealth rehabilitation.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across major databases (PubMed, Web of Science, etc.).
• Inclusion of systematic reviews published in English without date restrictions.
• Methodological quality assessed using AMSTAR 2 criteria.

Main Results:

• 7 systematic reviews (2019-2023) involving 95 studies and 2995 participants were included.
• Interventions: telerehabilitation, mHealth, AR, VR, wearables, exergames.
• AR/VR showed potential benefits with conventional therapy; stand-alone effectiveness inconclusive. Most reviews had critically low quality.

Conclusions:

• eHealth technologies offer potential for stroke upper limb rehabilitation.
• The field lacks sufficient evidence to establish clear efficacy.
• Future research requires standardized protocols, optimized neurorehabilitation principles, and methodological rigor.