Digital Health Technologies and Innovative Care Pathways for Continuity of Care in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation

Musculoskeletal disorders are the leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide, and spinal pain accounts for the largest share of that burden. Effective management rarely depends on a single intervention. It depends on continuity: an accurate early assessment, a multimodal plan combining pharmacological, physical and educational components, and sustained engagement with activeexercise over weeks and months. In practice, that continuity breaks down. Referral pathways between primary care and specialist rehabilitation are slow, physiotherapy access is constrained bywaiting lists, and adherence to prescribed home exercise falls sharply once the patient leaves the clinic.Digital health technologies offer a route to close these gaps. Telerehabilitation and tele-prehabilitation platforms extend supervised exercise beyond the hospital. Remote monitoring, wearable sensors and digital therapeutics make adherence measurable rather than assumed. Structured e-referral systems can shorten the interval between first presentation and specialist assessment. Yet evidence remains fragmented: many studies report feasibility rather than outcomes, few evaluate whether digital pathways change the trajectory of care rather than simply relocating it, and questions of equity, digital literacy, reimbursement and clinician workload are frequently left unexamined.This Research Topic aims to bring together clinical, technological and health-services research on digital tools and redesigned care pathways in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, with particular attentionto spinal conditions as a leading use case. Our goal is to move beyond feasibility studies toward evidence on outcomes, adherence and implementation: which digital interventions demonstrably improve function and pain, how they should be integrated into multidisciplinary pathways rather than bolted onto them, and what is required for health systems to adopt them at scale.We welcome contributions exploring:1) Telerehabilitation and Tele-Prehabilitation Programmes: Clinical trials and observational studies of remotely delivered exercise, prehabilitation before orthopaedic surgery, and hybrid models combining in-person and remote sessions for spinal and other musculoskeletal conditions.2) Remote Monitoring, Wearables and Adherence: Digital measurement of therapeutic exercise adherence, wearable and sensor-based assessment of function and movement quality, andinterventions designed to sustain patient engagement beyond the consultation.3) Integrated Care Pathways and E-Referral: Redesign of the interface between primary care, physiatry and physiotherapy, including structured e-referral, triage algorithms, waiting-listmanagement and multidisciplinary pathway models for early musculoskeletal pain.4) Digital Support for Multimodal and Self-Management Strategies: Platforms and applications supporting combined pharmacological, physical and educational treatment, including patient empowerment, behavioural intervention, thermotherapy and neuromuscular electricalstimulation delivered or guided remotely.5) Point-of-Care Technologies in the Rehabilitation Pathway: Musculoskeletal ultrasound, image-guided intervention and other point-of-care diagnostics used to accelerate decision-making and personalise rehabilitation prescriptions.6) Implementation, Equity and Outcome Measurement: Real-world implementation studies, patient-reported and functional outcome measures suited to digital pathways, cost-effectiveness analyses, and evidence on digital literacy, access and the risk of widening inequityWe welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Perspective, Study Protocol and CaseReport articles that advance the evidence base for digital health and integrated care pathways in musculoskeletal rehabilitation.If you are interested in submitting or have any questions please contact the journal email: musculoskeletaldisorders@frontiersin.org Topic editors: Luca Marin, Fabrizio Gervasoni Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86376/digital-health-technologies-and-innovative-care-pathways-for-continuity-of-care-in-musculoskeletal-rehabilitation