EMG

Hi I’m just wondering if any of you who have had an EMG done can tell me how awful or not awful it is? I read up about it online and it sounds sore… Also I’m trying to understand how the results might come up. I have a foot drop. From reading symptoms I think it’s my MS and not the nerve that is trapped anywhere along the way as I haven’t a sore back or leg or anything. Does that mean the EMG test will be normal but my MRI should show something? I’d love to know what people have experienced with emg test and result!!

I’m interested in this too. I’m hoping I don’t need one for my hand tremors as they’re so visible.

Hi There,

I had and EMG and there is nothing to it, they put a tiny needle in areas of your body that measure the muscle and stregnth activity in those areas. They do give you a slight electric type shocks with different pulse speeds, but in all fairess, it does feels strange and unusal, but it is not pain full, I didin’t find discomforting at all, I was very relaxed but the first electric pulse/shock did make me jump, after that though it was perfectly fine, but I can only speak for myself.

When I had my EMG, I had terrible myoclonic jerks, and spaticity, and my results were marked as normal, as my electrical nerves were even and adequate in all areas tested. I do not have muscle waste, but yet have increased involuntary muscle contractions (spaticity, spasm and jerks) Whether this would show now on EMG is good question, my last EMG was 18 months ago, which was all clear back then… Hope this helps.

An EMG is done to:

  • Find diseases that damage muscle tissue, nerves, or the junctions between nerve and muscle. These problems may include a herniated disc, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or myasthenia gravis (MG).
  • Find the cause of weakness, paralysis, or muscle twitching. Problems in a muscle, the nerves supplying a muscle, the spinal cord, or the area of the brainthat controls a muscle can cause these symptoms. The EMG does not show brain or spinal cord diseases.

A nerve conduction study is done to:

  • Find damage to the peripheral nervous system, which includes all the nerves that lead away from the brain and spinal cord and the smaller nerves that branch out from those nerves. This test is often used to help find nerve problems such ascarpal tunnel syndrome or Guillain-Barré syndrome.