Can anyone tell me what to expect (esp. pain-wise or discomfort) with an EMG nerve test? Is this the test with a bunch of micro needlelike electrodes?
I’ve had it done twice.
It doesn’t suck as much as you’d think. It’s not especially painful, but the shocks feel weird when your muscles tense up. There’s not much more I can think of to describe it.
I had one done down my entire leg. It is basically putting a needle, one at a time, in your muscles and having you tense the muscle to monitor the muscle. You may have to move your body to position it so that you can flex the appropriate muscle
The only one that hurt was one put dead in the middle of one of my thigh muscles. That only hurt when flexing the muscle.
Yeah, I had one years ago and remember that it was mostly a piece of cake. All my fears beforehand were really unneeded. It was hardly painful at all.
J.
I had two along my arm up to my shoulder. It was a VERY uncomfortable and painful experience.
This.
YMMV.
Had on the legs only. Very intensely uncomfortable only for the split second the shox are applied. The best analogy I could think of is the shock u get from touching the ungrounded part of a regular plug. It did feel weird having no control over the leg muscles contracting like they did; however, no lasting fx & I was able to get up & walk around normally immediately after the test stopped - no spasming or residual contractions. The needles themselves didn’t hurt at all.
Full disclosure… I have never had this test performed on me. However, I am in medical transcriptionist QA and have recently been tasked with cleaning up the reports from this department in our hospital system. I have seen hundreds of EMG reports in the past few months. I would estimate that only about 5% of the tests are abandoned due to discomfort. So, if you have a higher pain tolerance than the lowest 5% of the population you should be good.
I think the ones on the arms are more painful than those on the legs. One of my friends said that the EMG he had on his arm was one of the most horrifying experiences he’d ever had—and he’s a pretty tough character. He’s sworn he’ll never go through it again.
I had an EMG earlier this year on my shoulder and arm and it was no big deal. However, immediately following that test, I had an NCS (Nerve Conduction Study) and that was positively medieval.
Both legs and both arms - twice. An additional go round on my right arm. It sucks but if you have a good technician, it isn’t actually painful. I had a bad tech for one of my tests and she kept having to crank the shock because she wasn’t really in the right spot.
Words of wisdom, take some wet wipes to the test with you because you will end up with sticky spots all over the tested limb