How EMG Can Help in Evaluating and Managing Chronic Pain

Leading Michigan Doctors Explain and EMG

Ten skilled medical doctors at two excellent facilities serving Novi, MI, Howell MI, and surrounding areas, known as Rehabilitation Physicians, have years of combined experience diagnosing pain using electromyography (EMG) to help target pain in chronically ill patients. Our doctors want to discuss how this diagnostic tool helps evaluate and manage chronic pain.

What is an EMG and How It Can Help in Evaluating/Managing Chronic Pain?

We can't see how every body movement we make is possible or what is involved in making these movements happen every second of every day. We simply take for granted our ability to move our bodies. That is until we can't move a specific limb a certain way. 

These at-will movements involve our central nervous system, the communication network between our brain and spinal cord, and all of our nerves and muscles. For your body to move your nerves, it sends electrical signals to your muscles from your brain, unless there is a block in communication.

Our doctors at Rehabilitation Physicians serving Novi, MI, Howell MI, and surrounding areas explain that electromyography (EMG) works in conjunction with another test called a nerve conduction study (NCS). An NCS measures how well the flow of electrical current passes through a nerve before reaching a muscle, while the EMG measures the muscles' response to this electrical current.

These tests help doctors examine how your skeletal muscles function. Your network of nerves controls these functions, and an EMG tells doctors how well these nerves work.

If you complain of muscle weakness, numbness in an extremity, or a tingling sensation in a limb, the doctor orders an EMG. These tests uncover injuries or diseases affecting muscles and nerves, the presence of injuries, their location, and the extent of injuries and diseases.

An EMG can help define the correct diagnosis, thus setting up the right treatment plan. An EMG can bring to light a few of the following diagnoses:.

• Peripheral neuropathy, nerve compression, and carpal tunnel
• Pinched nerves
• Sciatica
• Cervical radiculopathy
• Muscle disorders, polymyositis, dermatomyositis, muscular dystrophy
• ALS, post-polio syndrome
• Myasthenia gravis

While an EMG and NCS are helpful diagnostic tools, our doctor may also use tools such as imaging testing, blood tests, and muscle biopsies in conjunction with them to properly diagnose your muscle/nerve problem. The results of these tests take approximately 24–48 hours to obtain.

Rehabilitation Doctors in Novi and Howell, MI, Embrace EMGs

Ten skilled medical doctors care for patients in two Rehabilitation Physicians' offices serving Novi, MI, Howell MI, and surrounding areas. If you believe electromyography (EMG) would help you and your doctor create an improved pain plan of care, call us at (248) 893-3200 today to schedule your pain consultation.