Trends in exercise therapy research for neurological diseases: a bibliometric and visualization approach from 2000 to 2024.

Background: Neurological disorders are one of the major global health burdens, and exercise therapy has been widely recognized as a beneficial intervention. However, the existing literature has primarily focused on summarizing the interventions, complications, and influencing factors, with relatively limited systematic comparisons and summaries.

Methods: This study employed a bibliometric analysis approach, using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software to analyze the literature on the application of exercise therapy in neurological disorders from 2000 to 2024, including annual publication volumes, countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, keyword co-occurrences, keyword clustering, keyword timelines, and keyword bursts.

Results: The study found that the United States is the leading contributor in this field, and the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois are the most active research institutions. Keyword analysis revealed that the research hotspots in this field are concentrated on the role of exercise therapy in the prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and improvement of quality of life for neurological disorders, and are gradually delving into its potential physiological mechanisms.

Conclusion: This study provides valuable references for subsequent research in this field, helping to track the research frontiers and predict future research directions. Future research could further explore the specific mechanisms and clinical efficacy for different neurological diseases, providing more targeted evidence for clinical practice.