Introduction: Translational medicine has been facing a persistent crisis for decades, and the field of neurorehabilitation is no exception. The challenges and delays that prevent patients, caregivers, and clinicians from promptly benefiting from advancements in bioengineering and new technological discoveries are well-documented.
Areas-covered: This perspective presents some ideas to underline the consolidated problems and highlight new obstacles to overcome in the context of translational neurorehabilitation, also considering the increasingly stringent laws for medical devices that are emerging throughout the world.
Expert opinion: The objective of the entire medical-scientific community must be to ensure that patients and their loved ones receive the best care available with the most advanced systems. Bioengineers, healthcare policy makers, certifiers and clinicians must always take translational aspects into consideration and find solutions to mitigate possible problems and delays. The goal of the entire medical and scientific community should be to ensure that patients and their families receive the highest quality care through the most advanced systems. To achieve this, bioengineers, healthcare policymakers, certifiers, and clinicians must consistently address translational challenges and work collaboratively to find solutions that minimize potential problems and delays.
Keywords: Translationality; exoskeleton; rehabilitation; robot; sensor-based rehabilitation; stroke; translational medicine; virtual reality.