Digital Health and Telerehabilitation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Current Evidence, Implementation Challenges, and Future Perspectives
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease causing severe physical, bulbar, and respiratory disability, rendering traditional center-based care highly burdensome for patients and informal caregivers. To evaluate how digital health can bridge hospital-to-home management, this narrative review was conducted in accordance with the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) quality criteria. A comprehensive search was performed across the PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to analyze telerehabilitation modalities, remote functional telemonitoring, and caregiver-centered tools. The evidence supports the feasibility of several home-based approaches and the measurement validity of selected motor, respiratory, and bulbar digital markers; however, improved detection of progression does not itself establish therapeutic benefit. Although selected respiratory telemonitoring pathways have reported favorable healthcare-utilization outcomes, current evidence does not consistently demonstrate reductions in hospital admissions or caregiver burden across the technologies reviewed; benefits for functional status and quality of life also remain uncertain for many interventions. Key technologies include wearable inertial sensors, non-invasive ventilation telemetry, markerless computer vision, eye-tracking systems, and mobile applications; however, significant limitations have been reported, particularly in clinical, technological, and evidence-based domains. Therefore, a cross-disease bridging framework is needed to translate and adapt validated digital solutions from higher-prevalence neurological populations to ALS patients. However, specific clinical trials are required to provide ALS-specific data, integrating telemedicine solutions within hybrid care models and providing sustainable solutions to optimize multidisciplinary ALS management.
Authors
- Alessio Turco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0510-0329)
- Matilde Rosalia Picco
- Lorenzo Lippi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9035-1485)
- Alessandro de Sire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5541-8346)
- Marco Invernizzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5141-0681)
- Fabiola De Marchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0197-1880)
- Letizia Mazzini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2479-9120)
- Niccolò Madonia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2232-0876)
Institutions
- Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carita (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliera Nazionale SS. Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo (IT)
- Link Campus University (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Sci
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/sci8110362
- Primary Topic
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00