Global Trends in Virtual Reality Research on Motor Rehabilitation from 2005 to 2025: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: Virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly used in motor rehabilitation over the past two decades, but the overall research landscape of this field has not been fully mapped from a bibliometric perspective. Objective: This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis to determine the development of research on VR for motor rehabilitation, focusing on its knowledge structure, major research topics, and temporal changes in the field. Methods: A topic-based search combining VR- and motor rehabilitation-related terms was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection for the period from 2005 to 2025, yielding 1232 publications. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, R, and Scimago Graphica were used to analyze publication trends, country and institutional contributions, author collaboration, journal and reference co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, citation bursts, and thematic evolution. Results: Publications increased in three stages: slow exploration, steady growth, and rapid expansion. The United States, Italy, China, and Canada were the leading contributors, with McGill University as the most productive institution. Research hotspots included gait and neurological rehabilitation, post-stroke upper-limb recovery, robotics- and neuroscience-integrated rehabilitation, and the rise of immersive VR technology. Conclusion: This study provides a bibliometric overview of research progress in the application of virtual reality technology to motor rehabilitation, offering systematic insights into the field’s knowledge structure, core research themes, evolutionary trajectory, and future research directions.