Stroke is the primary cause of death and long-term disability worldwide, and most survivors of cerebral ischemia experience a combination of motor, cognitive, learning, memory, and language deficits. Despite some drugs and neurotrophic agents having been proved to be effective in animal studies, serious side effects and unsatisfactory clinical efficacy have limited the clinical application of these drugs. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore novel effective non-drug therapies for improving neural repair and functional recovery after stroke.

Non-drug therapies are medical therapies that include neuroregulatory techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial electrical stimulation (TES), or motor imagery therapy), and traditional Chinese treatments like acupuncture or Tai Chi. However, high-quality evidence-based clinical research is scarce and the molecular mechanisms of non-drug therapy in the treatment of stroke remain poorly understood. The technical standards and regulations of non-drug therapy need to be clarified to maximize outcomes, including indications and contraindications, parameters, and time windows. Fortunately, more and more researchers are now investigating the effects of non-drug therapy, and there is increasing amounts of research into the effects and molecular mechanisms of non-drug therapy on neural plasticity and neural repair after stroke.

The aim of this Special Issue is to increase our knowledge of how non-drug therapy improves neural plasticity and reconstruction of functions, and to probe into the undergoing mechanisms of non-drug therapy after stroke. We welcome clinical studies and animal studies about the application of novel non-drug therapy, techniques, and devices of rehabilitation, and the mechanisms of non-drug therapy. We welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Effects and molecular mechanisms of transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Effects and molecular mechanisms of transcranial electrical stimulation
• Effects and molecular mechanisms of transcranial acupuncture and electrical acupuncture
• The effects and molecular mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine exercises, such as Tai Chi and Yi Jin Jing
• The effects and molecular mechanisms of electrical stimulation in peripheral nerves or median nerves
• The effects and molecular mechanisms of treatment strategies with multi-technology combinations
• The effects and molecular mechanisms of intelligent rehabilitation devices
• The molecular mechanisms of physical therapy