United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My daughter has her EMG on March 7. I am in the early stages of the recovery process and was wondering...
1. How long will the test take?
2. Will it hurt Katie?
I am just sick thinking about it. Any thoughts?

I don't know how old your baby is, but my granddaughter (lobpi) has had 2 EMG's. She had her first one when she was 3 mo. old. She cried just a little bit but really didn't seem bothered much. She had her 2nd EMG just 3 weeks ago at the age of 10 mo. She was more aware this time but still didn't seem overly upset about it and was fine at the end of the testing. The results of these tests were interesting; the 1st EMG before primary surgery showed almost nothing (no biceps, triceps, or deltoid) according to the doctor. The 2nd EMG done 5 mo. after primary surgery showed some biceps, triceps, and deltoid, so we were quite pleased about this. I, too, was very worried about my granddaughter having the EMG but it turned out fine.

Cherie,
my son had an EMG about 3 years ago. At the time, I wasn't aware of this board and totally trusted the orthopedic who said let's "wait and see" on a lot of things. I didn't know what to ask and how to get more involved in my son's care. You think I would have learned from the birth experience that docs, just because they're docs don't awlays know everything!

What I remember as far as pain goes was that they had about 4 - 5 attempts at getting a needle in him. I think it was for anestheia, I'm not really sure. I know we all had tp hold down a limb to keep him from moving. I can't remember if they were trying his BPI arm or not. As people have posted before here, most times the BPI arm is not good for needle sticks. Once he was under anesthesia, everything was fine and I don't think he had pain afterwards. Again, from what I can remember, they don't like sedating people getting EMG's because it may affect the reading, but for very young kids they do because they don't understand what's going on and move around too much.

I really thought we were going to get some good information/feedback about what they found. Instead, the orthopedic couldn't really interpret the finding of the doc who did the EMG. The ortho said he would contact the EMG guy to get more info. We never really had any good info other than it was inconclusive. The same thing happened with the MRI. It's just that someone forgot to tell my son's arm that it's OK to move because these silly tests don't really indicate somethings wrong.

Sometimes it like the weather guys. Maps and gauges are good indicators, but don't make every decision based on them. Look out the window, stupid, it's snowing no raining!!!!!!

Sorry, venting a bit!

There's many very knowledgeable people on this board so hopefully you can get more (better) responses.

Bob (father to Alex L-OBPI)

Cherie,
my son had an EMG about 3 years ago. At the time, I wasn't aware of this board and totally trusted the orthopedic who said let's "wait and see" on a lot of things. I didn't know what to ask and how to get more involved in my son's care. You think I would have learned from the birth experience that docs, just because they're docs don't awlays know everything!

What I remember as far as pain goes was that they had about 4 - 5 attempts at getting a needle in him. I think it was for anestheia, I'm not really sure. I know we all had tp hold down a limb to keep him from moving. I can't remember if they were trying his BPI arm or not. As people have posted before here, most times the BPI arm is not good for needle sticks. Once he was under anesthesia, everything was fine and I don't think he had pain afterwards. Again, from what I can remember, they don't like sedating people getting EMG's because it may affect the reading, but for very young kids they do because they don't understand what's going on and move around too much.

I really thought we were going to get some good information/feedback about what they found. Instead, the orthopedic couldn't really interpret the finding of the doc who did the EMG. The ortho said he would contact the EMG guy to get more info. We never really had any good info other than it was inconclusive. The same thing happened with the MRI. It's just that someone forgot to tell my son's arm that it's OK to move because these silly tests don't really indicate somethings wrong.

Sometimes it like the weather guys. Maps, gauges, and such are sometimes good indicators, but don't make every decision based on them. Look out the window, stupid, it's snowing, not raining!!!!!!

Sorry, venting a bit!

There's many very knowledgeable people on this board so hopefully you can get more (better) responses.

Bob (father to Alex L-OBPI)

My son (now age 17 mos) has had 3 EMGs, and all of them went quite smoothly. He was sedated just enough to quiet him, and on his last one they also used a numbing skin cream. After his first one (he was only 3 mos old) he was pretty cranky for the rest of the day as the sedative wore off. Otherwise he did not appear to be very uncomfortable.

Julie

Hi!

My daughter is 6, and just had an EMG and nerve conduction test today. Early this morning in fact:)

She did great. She was NOT sedated or given any numbing cream for the EMG. She didn't wince or cry. She even watched the needle go in the last time. They then gave her some medicine and did the nerve conduction test.

Thought you might like the perspective from an older child. Have a good day, and good luck with the test!

Nancy

Nancy,

Do you mind sharing where your daughter had the tests done? How long did it take?

Were there any useful findings from the studies? What kind of information did it provide?

The tests have been recommended to us and we are considering these tests for our child.

Thank you.

Sure. Kelsey had her tests done at a local hospital (we live in Wichita, KS). The EMG was on her wrist flexors & extenders and finger flexors. She was fully awake and aware of what was going on. We talked before hand about what was going to happen. It took about 20 minutes from the time he actually started the test until it was done. The hospital Dr. then gave her some medication to put her to sleep and they did the nerve conduction test. It took about 30-45 minutes. She woke right up without a problem. The results showed that she has minimal nerve conduction in her ulnar and radial nerves, and some conduction in her median nerve. We are having the results faxed to TCH so that Dr. Nath and Dr. Klebuc can review them and determine the next step for Kelsey.

Feel free to e-mail me personally if you have any questions!

Nancy