How to Test for Neuropathy

The EMG electromyography, sometimes called the needle study, is where we actually listen to muscles at a more microscopic level. These are all done generally on the surface of the skin with stickers these days. And then we record the function of the nerve either as a impulse passing by a recording electrode in the nerve or the response of the muscle on the other side of the neuromuscular junction. The reason it's helpful is because your clinical exam often cannot tell you whether an neuropathy is axonal or demyelinated.