Abstract:

Objective To analyze the research hotspots and frontier trends in the field of physical therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) from 2014 to 2023.

Methods Relevant literatures published from January, 2014 to December, 2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace 6.3.R1 was used to conduct bibliometric analysis, generating visual maps of countries, institutions, keyword co-occurrence, burst terms, timelines and clustering, and they were summarized based on both visual results and literature content.

Results A total of 400 articles were included. The United States had the highest publication volume, followed by China, Italy and Brazil, and the international collaboration was relatively active. Major contributing institutions included Northwestern University, Rush University, Karolinska Institutet and Universidade de São Paulo. Keyword co-occurrence analysis showed that researches mainly focused on interventions such as exercise, postural control, aerobic exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation. Burst detection analysis showed that keywords with high attention in recent years included motor symptoms, executive function, resistance training and noninvasive brain stimulation. The timeline map indicated a shift in research themes from early focus on electrical stimulation to integrated interventions involving both motor and cognitive functions.

Conclusion Over the past decade, researches on physical therapy for PD has shown steady growth, with increasing diversity in intervention strategies. There is a clear trend toward multidimensional integration and interdisciplinary collaboration. Future studies should strengthen interventions targeting non-motor symptoms and promote the clinical application of new rehabilitation technologies.

Key words: Parkinson's disease, physical therapy, bibliometrics