Rehabilitation of Shoulder Disorders: An ICF-Oriented Lexical Network Analysis of the Literature

Featured Application: We present a method that analyzes the literature from a lexical perspective. The method can represent a support to map different domains across the literature. (1) Background: The continuous growth of rehabilitation literature makes evidence synthesis increasingly challenging. Lexical network analysis may provide quantitative information on the organization of scientific knowledge. This study aimed to characterize the shoulder rehabilitation literature through an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)-oriented lexical network approach. (2) Methods: PubMed was searched for papers on shoulder rehabilitation published from 2016 to 2025. ICF-related lexical terms associated with the shoulder were selected from the official ICF framework, and their frequency inside the titles and abstracts of the found papers was calculated. A binary text-term matrix was generated and converted into a bipartite network. Graph-theoretical analysis, including feature reduction, was performed to identify representative topological descriptors and relationships. (3) Results: The analysis identified 6424 paper-word connections. SHOULDER, PAIN, and FUNCTION represented the principal lexical hubs of the network. Feature reduction enabled the characterization of the network by eigencentrality and neighborhood connectivity. Participation- and environment-related terms showed comparatively limited representation. PARTICIPATION showed the highest neighborhood connectivity. (4) Conclusions: The proposed ICF-oriented lexical network approach provides a quantitative framework for exploring the lexical organization of rehabilitation literature, providing complementary information to conventional literature reviews and supporting future evidence synthesis and research planning. © 2026 by the authors.