Oh, finally, after eons of sticking to the “good ol’ traditional” methods of treating Peripheral Nerve Injuries (PNIs) with the pace of a snail, the medical world has had a lightbulb moment: Electrical Stimulation (ES). Yes, folks, zapping those nerves might actually do more than make your leg twitch. It’s been shown to help motor and sensory neurons find their way back home, but wait—there’s more! We’ve apparently been neglecting the wallflowers of the neuron world: sympathetic neurons.

These shy guys are in charge of the behind-the-scenes work like controlling your blood pressure, making you sweat bullets in nerve-wracking situations, and even keeping your immune system in check. And guess what? They make up a whopping one quarter of the sciatic nerve’s axons. Who knew, right? But have we studied how ES affects them? Nope, not until now. Because why would we want to understand the full impact of a treatment before we start zapping away?

So, as we march forward with ES in patient care, let’s take a moment to appreciate this groundbreaking idea: maybe, just maybe, we should look into how it affects all types of neurons. And, heaven forbid, let’s try to avoid any “Oops, we didn’t think of that” moments by considering potential adverse effects. This piece is here to enlighten us about the wonders of ES on our animal friends and humans, while gently nudging us to think about those sympathetic axons too. Because, you know, they’re kind of important for, like, keeping us alive and functioning.