By Stacy Shoemaker, M.D.
SpineCare Medical Group affiliated with Seton Medical Center
If you experience constant numbness, tingling, pain, weakness, fatigue, and/or muscle cramping in your extremities, a series of specialized tests called electrodiagnosis, can be performed to evaluate and determine muscle and nerve function. Nerves and muscles are like an electrical generator, creating electrical signals that deliver messages to and from your brain. Sensory nerves deliver information about surroundings to the brain and motor nerves deliver signals from the brain to activate muscles. Injuries or diseases can affect nerves and muscles and can slow or halt the movement of these electrical signals.
Several types of electrodiagnostic tests exist that measure the speed and degree of electrical activity in your muscles and nerves. For example, testing can determine the extent of an injury to a muscle after an accident or the effects ofnerve damage caused by such diseases as diabetes.
The two most common procedures performed are nerve conduction studies (NCS) and needle electromyography (EMG). A neurologist who, specializes in the study of nerves or a physiatrist, a specialist in rehabilitation medicine, administers the tests.
Nerve conduction studies assess the health of a nerve. Small metal or disposable electrodes are taped to the skin and a brief electric stimulus is applied to a section of a nerve. The specialist is able to analyze how fast an electric impulse is traveling along the nerve. A delayed or absent response indicates nerve damage.
Needle electromyography assesses the health of a muscle. A disposable fine needle electrode is inserted through the skin into selected muscles. The needle has a microscopic electrode that registers both normal and abnormal muscle discharges. The physician then analyzes these discharges by observing a monitor while listening for specific sounds.
These tests are extremely safe and provide valuable information that can help guide treatment such as physical therapy, medications or possibly surgery.
If you are currently experiencing persistent numbness and tingling in your hands or feet or progressive weakness in your arms or legs, I urge you to talk with your doctor or seek a specialist to determine if an electrodiagnostic study is right for you can help guide treatment such as physical therapy, medications or possibly surgery.