What Is Electromyography & Nerve Conduction Testing?

At Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine in Ramsey, NJ, we offer some of the leading non-surgical and orthopedic services in our area for people living with acute and chronic pain conditions. Dr. Steven Ferrer and Dr. Kevin McElroy are proud to offer electromyography and nerve conduction testing among many of our advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, and we invite you to read on to learn how such testing works.

About Electromyography & Nerve Conduction Testing With Our Ramsey Pain Doctors

When you have suffered from an acute or chronic pain condition, the true extent of the injury may not initially be clear. Even if symptoms are mild, there may be a lot of underlying tissue damage and inflammation going on that could worsen or progress into a bigger problem if not properly addressed. To this end, electromyography and nerve conduction studies can be extremely valuable. Our Ramsey pain doctors utilize EMG and NCS to help identify if and where abnormal activity is present in affected muscles and nerve tissue, as well as how severe and persistent the problem is. EMG and NCS can also be used to track progress over time and how well a person is responding to treatment.

Here’s how it works:

First, a nerve conduction test (or “study”) is performed. To do this, electrical signals are sent from a device to the targeted nerves within the body. These signals can measure how well the nerves are functioning by stimulating them. Then, the EMG portion of the study is performed: this involves a small wire that can effectively measure the amount of activity going on in a muscle either at rest and/or during movement.

What Electromyography & Nerve Conduction Velocity Testing Can Tell Us

Both EMG and NCS tell us important information about a person’s involved areas of the musculoskeletal and central nervous systems. They can tell us how fast and how well nerves are transmitting information, and can provide objective data as to the extent of neuromuscular involvement from affected muscle fibers themselves. This can help us get an understanding of the severity, duration, and progression of conditions such as:

• Nerve impingement (aka radiculopathy)
• Sciatica
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Neuropathy

Based on the information gleaned from these muscle and nerve studies (conveniently performed in-house at our Ramsey office), our interdisciplinary pain management team can devise customized treatment plans to meet the specific needs of individual patients. Services we may use to restore normal muscle and nerve function may include physical therapy, osteopathic manipulation techniques, and regenerative treatments including stem cell injections and platelet rich plasma injections.

Are you looking for answers about your pain and dysfunction? We offer electromyography and nerve conduction testing along with several other advanced and innovative diagnostic tools at our Northern New Jersey clinic. To schedule an appointment or to learn more about the conditions we treat and services we offer, then call Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine today at (201) 962-9199.