A Rehabilomics framework for personalized and translational rehabilitation research and care for individuals with disabilities: Perspectives and considerations for spinal cord injury

Rehabilomics is a translational model that provides an “-omics” overlay to the scientific study of rehabilitation processes and multidimensional outcomes. Rehabilomics research provides novel opportunities to evaluate the neurobiology of complex injury or chronic disease and can be used to examine methods and treatments for person-centered care among populations with disabilities. The field of rehabilitation faces challenges in justifying treatment effectiveness and struggles with protocol standardization due to the need for individualized assessments. Rehabilomics, by integrating biomarkers, offers a way to address these challenges and preserve the principles of individualized care in rigorous clinical trials. Rehabilomics incorporates the systematic collection and study of rehabilitation-relevant phenotypes, in conjunction with a transdisciplinary evaluation of biomarkers, in order to better understand the biology, function, prognosis, complications, treatments, adaptation, and recovery for persons with disabilities.

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  Biomarkers can characterize pathophysiology during rehabilitation and recovery, and interrelationships between biomarkers and other innate factors can influence long-term functional outcome, disability and recovery path.
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  Rehabilomics approaches may have some utility in identifying who may not benefit from a particular intervention, and an effective Rehabilomics approach to treatment intervention and assessment can also address other common challenges such as dose, timing, and duration of interventions.
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  The WHO-ICF framework is adapted to capture the essence of “Rehabilomics” as a field of study that intertwines biophysiological components associated with personal and environmental factors, as well as with complicating conditions, that impact multidimensional outcomes and recovery across heterogeneous populations with complex injury or disease.