Home-based telerehabilitation for pediatric neurological motor disorders: Current trends and future perspectives. A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

Telerehabilitation is a rapidly growing area within telehealth, providing clinical rehabilitation services through telecommunication technologies to enhance accessibility, improve care quality, and support patient functionality. Pediatric motor rehabilitation has gained increasing recognition for its vital role in promoting neuromotor development, coordination, and independence in children with congenital or acquired motor disabilities. This systematic review analyzed home-based telerehabilitation interventions for pediatric neurological motor disorders, from the neonatal period onward, aiming to outline current trends and future directions.

METHODS

A comprehensive search was conducted across Medline, EBSCO, and Web of Science, covering records up to February 2025. Peer-reviewed articles were included without restrictions on study design. The focus was on pediatric and adolescent populations with neurodevelopmental or neuromuscular disorders undergoing telerehabilitation or remote rehabilitative interventions.

RESULTS

The findings support the potential efficacy of tele-neurorehabilitation in improving motor outcomes, with promising results for children with cerebral palsy and hemiplegia. Interventions were shown to enhance motor function (SMD = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.72), range of motion (SMD = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.51), and walking ability (SMD = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.46), suggesting that remote rehabilitation can be an effective complement or alternative to traditional in-person therapy in pediatric care. Moreover, beyond functional improvements, several studies reported positive effects on children's quality of life, highlighting the broader psychosocial benefits of remote interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

These results underscore the holistic value of telerehabilitation, reinforcing its role as a comprehensive and accessible strategy in pediatric rehabilitation services. Multidimensional assessments are essential to capture the broader benefits of telerehabilitation and to guide the development of more holistic, child- and family-centered care models.