Navigating physical activity after a nerve injury in the arm and hand
Linda Evertsson, Cecilia Mellstrand Navarro, Christina Turesson
Abstract
Single-center, case-control study.
Introduction
Peripheral nerve injuries in the arm and hand can lead to significant challenges, impacting every aspect of a person’s life. Still, rehabilitation largely focuses on hand exercises, emphasizing motor function recovery. Targeting sensory relearning poses a significant challenge for the brain, demanding neural adaptation and reorganization.
Materials and methods
This is a qualitative interview study that explores the experience of changes in physical activity (PA) after a nerve injury in the arm and hand. Data was analysed using content analysis [16,17].
Results
The results demonstrate that all participants experienced changes in PA, with decreases or increases occurring over different time spans and to varying degrees. This finding was evident among all participants despite large discrepancies in the severity and location of their nerve injury.
Discussion
This qualitative study explores the impact of nerve injuries in the arm and hand on physical activity (PA), identifying barriers and facilitators influencing participation in PA during recovery. None of the participants maintained the same level of PA following their injury.
Conclusions
The study reveals a reduced level of physical activity following a nerve injury to the arm and hand. It identifies previously inactive individuals as particularly vulnerable to adopting a sedentary lifestyle.
Citation: Evertsson L, Mellstrand Navarro C, Turesson C (2026) Navigating physical activity after a nerve injury in the arm and hand. PLoS One 21(1): e0341801. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0341801
Editor: Maheshkumar Baladaniya, Neighborhood Physical Therapy, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Received: July 30, 2025; Accepted: January 12, 2026; Published: January 30, 2026
Copyright: © 2026 Evertsson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: We acknowledge that qualitative interview transcripts constitute valuable research data. However, due to ethical considerations, the full dataset cannot be publicly shared, as it contains potentially identifying and sensitive information about participants. These restrictions are mandated by the ethical permit from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. All files are fully available on request from the corresponding author or from the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Sodersjukhuset hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. We confirm that other researchers will be able to access the data in the same manner as the authors, since we are in possession of the transcribed interviews without restrictions others than stated above. Data request may be sent to the corresponding author (contact via [email protected]) or Erik Melén Professor, Head of Department of Clinical Science and Education, Sodersjukhuset, Karolinska Institute (contact via [email protected]).
Funding: Declaration of fundings This work was supported by the Regional Agreement on Medical Training and Clinical Research between the Stockholm County Council and Karolinska Institute (ALF). CMN was supported by Region Stockholm (clinical research appointment) with grant numbers (FoUI-955404, FoUI-981655).
Competing interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
