Exercise, an Important Step for Peripheral Nerve Injury Recovery

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Regenerative Medicine
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is common, leading to sensory, motor, and nutritional deficits.
• Aging, trauma, and disease complicate PNI recovery, often resulting in chronic pain and disability.
• Current treatments offer limited functional recovery, highlighting the need for effective rehabilitation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review molecular mechanisms of exercise and adjuvant therapies in PNI rehabilitation.
• To summarize synergistic benefits of combined exercise and adjuvant therapy for PNI repair.
• To explore exercise's role in mitigating PNI caused by aging, disease, and environmental factors.

Main Methods:

• Narrative review adhering to the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) guidelines.
• Comprehensive literature search across PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.
• Synthesis of evidence on molecular pathways influenced by exercise and adjuvant therapies in PNI.

Main Results:

• Combined exercise with physical therapy or traditional Chinese medicine shows superior outcomes for PNIs.
• Therapeutic benefits are linked to reduced oxidative stress and inflammation.
• Upregulation of neurotrophic factors, autophagy activation, and improved vascularization contribute to nerve repair.

Conclusions:

• Exercise combined with adjuvant therapies offers a promising strategy for PNI rehabilitation.
• Synergistic effects enhance nerve repair by modulating key molecular pathways.
• This review provides a foundation for future research into targeted molecular mechanisms of exercise in PNI recovery.