The time required for testing can depend on the nature of the problem. Also, the electromyographer might add or subtract additional testing depending on how the initial components turn out. Overall, a typical session might last between 45 and 90 minutes. That doesn't mean that the patient is subjected to unpleasantries during that whole period of time. Actually, much of the time is devoted to getting all the little pieces and parts of equipment organized and in place for each "mini-test" comprising the overall testing session.
So when your doctor refers you for electromyography, don't listen to your brother-in-law. What does he know anyway? (Wait a minute, I'm somebody's brother-in-law, too! But you get the idea.) As an adventure, EMG is less than it's cracked up to be. As a diagnostic test, it can be very useful.
Reference:
http://www.emgtest.org/emg-test/
I had the test done 2 weeks ago, and it reminded me of something we used to do with a transistor radio, and replacing the anntenna with two leads. We could touch our arms and legs, as well as animals and the walls around wall sockets and light sockets, and get the same noises.
My test took between 10 to 15 minutes, and I just got the word back that it was normal. It was not painful, just slightly uncomfortable.
I really have my doubts about the value of the test, but then I am not a Doctor either.
My main symptom in the beginning was pain. I was sent for an EMG of just my arm. The pain of the test was indescribable--literally like torture. I can't imagine anyone going through something like that in a non-medical setting, knowing that it might never end. The test was several years ago, but just thinking about it still makes me feel like I'm going to be sick.
Afterwards, the increased pain level from the test didn't go down. For more than a year afterward. Before the EMG, I had a lot of pain a lot of the time. Starting with the EMG and continuing for over a year afterward, I had intense neurological pain 24/7, much worse than anything I'd orginally had. To this day I have to take strong prescription pain medication. I was put through absolute hell because of that EMG which, of course, turned up nothing but a borderline case of carpal tunnel that had nothing to do with the problems I was having. Based on the non-findings, the neurologist pretty much decided I was a head case.
Later, a physical therapist told me that the EMG was pretty much a waste of time if the doctor hadn't already had a diagnosis in mind when I'd had it. He said people rarely get a diagnosis from the EMG. I wish I'd known. About 9 years afterwards I discovered that I actually have M.S. The non-findings of the EMG were probably one of the things that kept me from getting a diagnosis sooner.
I can't overstate the damage this test did to me. I think it's irresponsible telling people that it's merely uncomfortable and to not worry about what they've heard about it. Maybe for some, but if someone already has a significant level of neurological pain before getting it, they should seriously think twice. Some tests can be worse than doing nothing.
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Hi,
This is a very good description of the EMG, which can be an important tool in diagnosing MS and other conditions. First, I want to say that the slight discomfort felt during the test is way better than having to have a regular myogram, which I had several of prior to EMG's being available. Remember I started having back problems when I was 12 years old and I had my first myogram, which is like a spinal tap, when I was in the 7th grade. I was in the hospital for pain and weakness in my legs and was told I was going for x-rays. Well we all know they don't hurt. I was on a pediatric ward of a Catholic hospital and I guess they figured the less I knew the better. The technician told me to sit on the end of the table and hold my knees to my chest real tight. He told me I would feel a little stab and then he stuck a needle into my spine—I am pretty confident that the technician that was standing in front of me is still scarred from the scratch he received when the needle went in.
Then I was told to lay on the table quietly for a few minutes. As I lay there I heard one of the nurses say, "Who left this child here unattended with a needle sticking out of her back. If she moved at all she could be paralyzed."
Now I was sure I had moved, several times in fact. No one told me not to move. Everyone scurried around, x-rays were taken with the table in different positions, the needle was removed and I was shipped back to my room. It was obvious in a few hours that I hadn't really moved, after all I could still walk around. What I did get though was a headache to end all headaches. I left the hospital the next day and spent the following week in the bottom bunkbed in the bedroom I shared with one of my sisters, with a heavy blanket hanging down the side of the bed to prevent light from getting in, and shades pulled down tight at every window. I couldn't sit up at all for several days and everything I ate or drank had to be heavily dosed with salt, which, I am told, helped to replace the spinal fluid. I had the dreaded myogram headache, which I understand some people get from dye that is used in some tests and other things that might affect the spinal fluid.
I was allowed back to school about a week later but I assure you I have never had a headache like that before or after that experience. And I have fought every attempt to give me another myogram or spinal tap ever since.
In 1970 I had my first EMG. It was still a very new test, and the doctor who administered it to me, Dr. Post, was on the NASA team that developed it so they could monitor the astronauts muscles during space flights. The equipment filled three of the walls in a room about 10x12 feet in size, and bleeped and boinked throughout the test.. My fiance and mother were with me and the three of us were so enthralled by this machine that I didn't pay much attention to the discomfort. As a result of this test I had my first lumbar laminectomy. In 1980 another orthopedist prescribed an EMG, and this time a technician rolled a small piece of equipment into my hospital room and administered the test at my bed. What a difference ten years made. And based on the results of this test I had my second lumbar laminectomy.
One final point. I have described the sensation of an EMG as one of discomfort. One of the terms I least like in medical terminology is, "this won't hurt, it is just going to be a little uncomfortable." I usually want to go running when I hear this. Well, the sensation I experience during this test is of electrical shocks going into my muscles, which will sometimes jump when it is received. Some people probably feel this more than others, depending on what is going on in their bodies, so I don't like to tell anyone how it will feel for them. But I will say this, it isn't horrible, it doesn't last all that long, and it is 100 times better than a regular myogram.
Denise, you never cease to amaze and enlighten.
You have endured so much and we all truly appreciate that you take the time and effort to share your experiences with us. We've come a long way since the Myogram.
Seems we concur on the EMG -- it's no fun, but it's not as horrific as it sounds when first explained to you. There are definitely worse things. Like you say, much depends on what is going on with an individual's body at the time.
It's just one of many diagnostic tools that one might encounter when looking for diagnosis.