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Review
. 2024 May 17:12:1391322.
doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1391322. eCollection 2024.

Robotic exoskeleton-assisted walking rehabilitation for stroke patients: a bibliometric and visual analysis

Shuangshuang Wen  1 , Ruina Huang  1 , Lu Liu  1 , Yan Zheng  2 , Hegao Yu  1
Affiliations
Review

Robotic exoskeleton-assisted walking rehabilitation for stroke patients: a bibliometric and visual analysis

Shuangshuang Wen et al. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. .

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the literature on exoskeleton robot assisted walking rehabilitation for stroke patients in the Web of Science Core Collection over the past decade.

Method: Retrieved literature on exoskeleton robot assisted gait training for stroke hemiplegic patients from the Web of Science Core Collection from 1 January 2014 to 31 January 2024. The search method was topic search, and the types of documents were "article, meeting abstract, review article, early access." CiteSpace was used to analyze the search results from countries, institutions, keywords, cited references and cited authors.

Result: A total of 1,349 articles were retrieved, and 1,034 were ultimately included for visualization analysis. The annual publication volume showed an upward trend, with countries, institutions, and authors from Europe and America in a leading position. The core literature was also published by authors from European and American countries. The keywords were divided into 8 clusters: # 0 soft robotic exit, # 1 robot assisted gain training, # 2 multiple scales, # 3 magnetic rheological brake, # 4 test retest reliability, # 5 electromechanical assisted training, # 6 cerebra salary, and # 7 slow gain. The early research direction focused on the development of exoskeleton robots, verifying their reliability and feasibility. Later, the focus was on the combination of exoskeleton robot with machine learning and other technologies, rehabilitation costs, and patient quality of life.

Conclusion: This study provides a visual display of the research status, development trends, and research hotspots, which helps researchers in this field to grasp the research hotspots and choose future research directions.

Keywords: bibliometric; rehabilitation; robotic exoskeleton; stroke; walking.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart of literature selection.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The number of published papers.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
National cooperation analysis map.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Institutional collaboration analysis map.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Highly cited core literature analysis map.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Co-cited references of the burst intensity.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Keyword co-occurrence analysis map.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Keyword clustering map.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
Keyword timeline view.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
Ranking of keywords by burst strength.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62373346.