Papers
41
Total Citations
1,088
H-Index
20
About
Maurizio Petrarca is a prominent Italian researcher whose work sits at the intersection of neurorehabilitation engineering, pediatric motor disorders, and robotic-assisted therapy. His career has been defined by a sustained commitment to translating advanced robotic technologies into clinically meaningful interventions for patients across the lifespan, from children with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injuries to adults recovering from stroke and living with conditions such as Friedreich's ataxia and multiple sclerosis. Petrarca's most influential contributions include landmark systematic reviews examining robotic rehabilitation of both upper and lower limbs following stroke, collectively accumulating nearly 250 citations and helping bridge the persistent gap between research evidence and clinical practice. His early pioneering work on robot-mediated therapy in children with movement disorders (2009, 68 citations) helped establish the feasibility of this approach in pediatric populations, while his feasibility study of wearable pediatric exoskeletons laid critical groundwork for designing appropriately scaled assistive devices. He has also made methodological contributions by establishing minimum clinically important differences for pediatric gait measures, providing clinicians with rigorous benchmarks for evaluating treatment success. Across more than a decade of prolific output, Petrarca has shaped how the rehabilitation community understands, evaluates, and implements electromechanical and robotic devices — making his work essential reading for clinicians and engineers alike.
Research Focus
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