The electric currents last a split second, but EMG literature warns that these are not pretty. The bigger issue for some people, as far as pain during an EMG test, will be the electric shocks. If you’ve had facial extractions, and especially sclerotherapy (at least on the nose), then the needle pricking of an EMG test certainly won’t hurt too much in comparison. However, these don’t hurt nearly as much as sclerotherapy on the nose, which I have also had. I’d venture to say that the needle pricking of an EMG test doesn’t hurt nearly as much as the “pricking” that occurs during the extractions that come with facials.Įxtractions on the nose hurt to high heaven (I’ve had them done). I think what would hurt most during an EMG test is the patient’s anticipation of what the diagnosis might be. I’d imagine that if they were concentrated on the upper legs, they wouldn’t hurt as bad. How much an EMG test will hurt will depend upon where the needles are being applied, and how tolerant an individual is of this kind of pain. She let out a good yalp when this happened.

The most painful needle prick was when it was applied to my mother’s left palm, even though the doctor had tested her right palm first. At one point he embedded a needle about a quarter inch into her skin on the underside of the palm, and moved it around.

The doctor would place a needle on her skin, then tap the top of it. However, in my mother’s case, most of the hurt from the EMG came from the needles. Sometimes her face twitched from the discomfort. Her eyes would mildly flinch, and sometimes flinched more noticeably.

She was lying on her back, eyes closed, while he worked on her arms. I was watching my mother’s face while he applied the shock with a cell-phone-sized device that he’d press a button on for a split second. The doctor had warned her the day before, “It will be unpleasant.” The needles are a little thicker than acupuncture needles, said the doctor.Īn electric shock is always an unpleasant experience, and there will be times that the doctor will increase the voltage. I sat in on my mother’s EMG test for her suspected pronator teres syndrome. It depends on how sensitive a person is to pain, and in the case of an EMG test, the pain can come from two sources: an electric shock delivered by the doctor, and needle pricks, which can take the form of an embedded needle that the doctor maneuvers around while it’s beneath the skin.

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