Research hotspots in rehabilitation robotics applied to lower extremity rehabilitation: A bibliometric study of the top 100 most cited publications based on the Web of Science database

Objective To analyze the research hotspots and development status of lower extremity rehabilitation robots. Methods Publications related to lower extremity rehabilitation robots published between 2007 and 2025 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. The top 100 most-cited articles were selected for analysis. To conduct co-authorship, analysis of highly cited literature, keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and temporal trend analyses in this field, VOSviewer (version 6.3.R1 (64-bit)), CiteSpace (version 1.6.20), Microsoft Excel 2019 and HistCite were used. Results The top 100 most-cited articles were first published in 2007, with citation counts ranging from 61 to 907. These articles were distributed across 42 journals, with the Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation being the most influential source. A total of 176 institutions contributed to these publications, among which the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain showed the highest productivity. Keyword analysis identified 528 unique terms, with “rehabilitation,” “walking,” and “stroke” being the most frequently occurring. Cluster and temporal analyses revealed that research has predominantly focused on neurological rehabilitation, particularly gait training after stroke, while studies addressing orthopedic rehabilitation and long-term clinical outcomes remain limited. Conclusion Research on lower extremity rehabilitation robots has primarily concentrated on neurological disorders, especially stroke-related gait rehabilitation. In contrast, orthopedic rehabilitation and long-term clinical validation are relatively underexplored and represent important future research directions. Multicenter, large-sample, and long-term follow-up clinical trials are warranted to evaluate the sustained effectiveness and translational value of rehabilitation robots in diverse clinical settings.