Art, neuroplasticity, and tradition: a narrative review and conceptual perspective of Chinese woodblock printing in global art practices and Parkinson's disease neuroscience.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by debilitating motor impairment, cognitive decline, and a substantial reduction in patient quality of life. While pharmacological treatments and standard physiotherapy provide essential symptomatic relief, they often offer only transient benefits. Consequently, there is growing interest in non-pharmacological interventions that may support sustained improvements in motor function, balance, and emotional well-being through neuroplastic mechanisms. This narrative review and conceptual perspective synthesizes evidence linking creative art practices to neuroplasticity and develops a hypothesis-generating framework for the potential relevance of traditional Chinese woodblock printing as a culturally grounded sensorimotor activity in PD rehabilitation. Literature across four thematic domains, art therapy in Parkinson's disease, fine-motor and sensorimotor rehabilitation, neuroplasticity mechanisms, and culturally grounded creative interventions, was surveyed across PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar; no primary empirical studies evaluating Chinese woodblock printing in any neurological rehabilitation population were identified. However, review-level evidence and individual studies of related fine-motor modalities, including calligraphy, drawing, painting, rhythmic drumming, and visual art therapy, consistently report improvements in motor severity, balance, fine-motor control, and psychosocial outcomes. These therapeutic gains are attributed to repetitive fine-motor engagement, multisensory integration, and the strengthening of fronto-parieto-motor networks, supported by experience-dependent cortical reorganization. Chinese woodblock printing integrates precision carving, rhythmic inking, and manual printing, demanding complex bilateral coordination, visuospatial planning, and executive sequencing. The proposed conceptual framework posits that sustained printmaking practice drives intensive sensorimotor engagement, leading to functional gains in motor control and manual dexterity. Although direct empirical evidence remains absent, the biomechanical and neural parallels with established interventions suggest that woodblock printing represents a promising, low-cost adjunctive neurorehabilitation tool. This review highlights the need for modality-specific randomized controlled trials and longitudinal neuroimaging data to test the hypotheses generated by culturally resonant arts in Parkinson's disease care. Integrating such practices into community-based rehabilitation may offer scalable, holistic benefits that complement conventional medical therapies.