Nerve Conduction Study: The Basics
If a patient is experiencing an unexplained neurological abnormalities or motor weakness, the physician might want to use a nerve conduction study for a diagnostic workup. This might be useful in finalizing the diagnosis or even help to verify how bad the patient's nerve is compromised. The nerve conduction study is an examination that is non-invasive which is used in determining how the nerves conduct electrical signals throughout the body. It is a very valuable tool in determining if a nerve injury occurs in a person's body and when it does, it can also determine where it's happening. This might also help, for example, in cases like disk herniation where there is pinched nerves to visualize how poorly the conduction in the nerve was affected.
The examination is typically done by neurologists or by doctors who had special training for physical medical and rehabilitation to make sure that they know how to carry out a nerve conduction study and that they know how to interpret the results. Throughout the study, the electrodes will be placed at the skin's surface at different locations. During the examination, the doctor would administer electrical currents which are mild by stimulating electrodes that would then travel all along the nerves and would be captured through recording the electrodes at the target point. Know more about hyperhidrosis treatment.
The information would be then graphed which is done by a NCS machine in order to produce an exact measurement of the travel strength and speed of that certain nerve's response with direct stimulation. After that, the doctor would then interpret the data to ascertain whether there are abnormalities or nerve dysfunction or none. After the exam has been completed, the electrodes will be removed from the patient's body and he will be permitted to go. Check out more treatment for migraines here.
The nerve conduction study is frequently done together with an electromyography. This kind of study us being used to assess the health condition of motor nerves and muscles. It is important to determine the root of a muscle weakness as well as to know if there is a neurological disorder. Just like the NCS, the electrodes would be placed in the skin's surface, though in addition, small needles would be put into the skin as well as in the muscles that are being tested. What we have mentioned above are just the basics of a nerve conduction study. If you want to learn a lot more about this kind of study, view website to find more information about it. For more details about neurology, visit http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/neurology.aspx.