Subjects with brain diseases are the major conditions of neurorehabilitation. It has brought new hopes to those with neurologic problems with the development of researches in the brain and other neurology. Strategies in the neurorehabilitation are now changing. It has progressed from focusing the improvement of the limbs of patients such as neurodevelopment approaches, functional electrical stimulation, robotic training, and so on, to the brain-orientated such as non-invasive brain stimulation, virtue reality, etc. A new model of neurorehabilitation is now being developed which integrates the methods stimulating the brain with those stimulating the limbs together either simultaneously or combination to modulate the effectiveness of different modalities. The final goals are to further enhance the outcome of rehabilitation.
In recent years, the ongoing development of transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has demonstrated significant potential in the treatment and rehabilitation of various brain diseases. In particular, the combined application of TES and TMS has shown considerable clinical value due to their potential synergistic effects. This paper first systematically reviews the mechanisms underlying TES and TMS, highlighting their respective advantages and limitations. Subsequently, the potential mechanisms of transcranial electromagnetic combined stimulation are explored, with a particular focus on three combined stimulation protocols: Repetitive TMS (rTMS) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), rTMS with transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), and theta burst TMS (TBS) with tACS, as well as their clinical applications in brain diseases. Finally, the paper analyzes the key challenges in transcranial electromagnetic combined stimulation research and outlines its future development directions. The aim of this paper is to provide a reference for the optimization and application of transcranial electromagnetic combined stimulation schemes in the treatment and rehabilitation of brain diseases.