By Dr. Sean M. Wells, DPT, PT, OCS, CNPT, ATC/L, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Cert-DN

Peripheral nerve injuries are coming conditions that doctors of physical therapy (PTs) treat.  Some common peripheral nerve injuries include sciatic nerve damage, Saturday Night Palsy, drop foot, carpal tunnel, and cervical radiculopathy. Typical physical therapy treatments include nerve mobilizations, electrical stimulation, dry needling, and therapeutic exercise. What if we as PTs could include diet to help accelerate the healing and restore function sooner?

A recent Nature publication examines the use of intermittent fasting specific for sciatic nerve injury in mice. Intermittent fasting is a unique dietary intervention that focuses on a period of fasting with a period of eating as much food as you would like. The researchers took the mice and induced physical trauma to the sciatic nerve. Half of the mice underwent intermittent fasting (by eating as much as they liked followed by not...