These electrodes will send low currents of electricity into your muscles. At the start of your test, we place electrodes on the surface of your skin in specific points of your body, including your lower back. What to expect during electromyographyĮlectromyography is a same-day procedure we perform in our office. This ensures you receive the right treatment to relieve your pain and protect the health of your spinal nerves. This pain can also radiate into your limbs, shoulders, hips, and buttocks.īecause nerve compression pain can be similar to other painful conditions, an accurate diagnosis is important. Pressure can also cause tingling, weakness, muscle pain, and cramping in your lower back. Persistent pressure on these nerve roots can cause the spontaneous contraction of the nerve and slow down nerve activity.

This type of test can pinpoint areas of nerve compression or nerve damage (neuropathy) that result from chronic inflammation and spinal conditions like: Why you might need electromyographyĮlectromyography (EMG) is a minimally invasive procedure to evaluate the electrical activity of the nerve roots in your spine. De La Torre offers on-site diagnostic testing services, including electromyography. Nerve conduction studies also may be used during treatment to test the progress being made.When you have lower back pain but aren’t sure what’s causing it, it’s important that you get the right diagnostic tests.Īt New Tampa Interventional Pain & Sports Medicine, pain specialist Jose De La Torre, MD, knows that chronic lower back pain can affect many aspects of your life. By stimulating the nerve at various places, the doctor can determine the specific site of the injury. If the nerve is damaged, however, the signal will be slower and weaker. In healthy nerves, electrical signals can travel up to 120 miles per hour. As the current travels down the nerve pathway, the electrodes placed along the way capture the signal and time how fast the signal is traveling.

Then the doctor stimulates the nerve with an electric current.

NCS are often done along with the EMG to determine if a nerve is functioning normally.The doctor conducting the test will tape wires (electrodes) to the skin in various places along the nerve pathway. EMG results can help the doctor diagnose muscle disorders, nerve disorders, and disorders affecting the connection between nerves and muscles.

These symptoms may include tingling, numbness, or unexplained weakness in the limbs. A doctor will usually order an EMG when someone is showing symptoms of a muscle or nerve disorder. An EMG translates these signals into graphs or numbers, helping doctors to make a diagnosis. They transmit electrical signals that cause muscles to contract and relax. These nerve cells are known as motor neurons. Electromyography (EMG) is a diagnostic procedure that evaluates the health condition of muscles and the nerve cells that control them.

Emg nerve test for back pain