Orthotics for Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation

Orthoses play a central role in musculoskeletal rehabilitation by reducing pain, improving alignment, enhancing stability, and enabling safe participation in daily activities and therapeutic exercise. Despite their widespread use, many orthotic interventions continue to face critical challenges, including variable clinical outcomes across patient populations, limited personalization, trade-offs between comfort and mechanical performance, and inconsistent evaluation frameworks. This Research Topic aims to advance orthotic design for musculoskeletal rehabilitation by bringing together multidisciplinary work that integrates engineering, biomechanics, clinical practice, and patient experience. We seek contributions that strengthen how orthoses are conceived, designed, fabricated, fitted, and evaluated—ultimately supporting more effective, acceptable, and equitable rehabilitation pathways. By emphasizing robust methodologies, clinically meaningful outcomes, and translational relevance, this collection seeks to inform the next generation of orthotic solutions across diverse musculoskeletal conditions and care settings.Orthotic interventions are widely prescribed for musculoskeletal conditions involving the foot and ankle, knee, hip, spine, and upper limb, as well as for post-injury and post-surgical rehabilitation. Recent advances in biomechanics, sensor technologies, computational modeling, and digital fabrication (including three-dimensional scanning and additive manufacturing) have created new opportunities to personalize orthoses and optimize functional performance. At the same time, orthotic research must address real-world clinical constraints, such as time, cost, comfort, adherence, and the need for transparent and efficient decision-making processes. Increasing emphasis on patient-centered design, shared clinical decision-making, and outcomes reflecting meaningful participation and quality of life further underscores the need for design approaches that align innovation with clinical feasibility and implementation.This Research Topic welcomes manuscripts addressing orthotic design and evaluation for musculoskeletal rehabilitation, including but not limited to: (1) biomechanics-informed design, tuning, and optimization; (2) materials and fabrication strategies, such as additive manufacturing and modular or adjustable designs; (3) custom versus prefabricated orthoses and prescription rationale; (4) fit, comfort, usability, and adherence; (5) sensorized or “smart” orthoses and data-driven assessment; (6) gait, movement, and functional outcomes; (7) clinical trial methodology, implementation research, and cost-effectiveness; (8) pediatric, adult, older adult, and sport or occupational populations; and (9) equity and access in orthotic provision. We encourage submissions including Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Clinical Trials, Methods articles, Brief Research Reports, and Clinical Case Series, where appropriate. Topic editors: Fan Gao, Abu Jor, Toshiki Kobayashi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77697/orthotics-for-musculoskeletal-rehabilitation