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How much does an EMG that targets the paraspinal muscles hurt?
I'm scheduled to have an EMG study that will target the paraspinal muscles. This seems to me like it would trally be painful. Any insight would be appreciated.
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I’m having one coming up too. I’ve had them in my hands and arms multiple times without trouble. The pain is so transitory and short lived. But with the paraspinal muscles it is much deeper…
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3 Reactions@laura1970 That's what I've heard too. I had a study done on my arms years ago and I remember that being pretty darned painful. Not looking forward to this at all!
I had 2 of the EMGs. Full body from my hands, arms and legs. Most of the shocks are short and somewhat painful (short lived) and I jerked a bit. A few others shocks are a bit longer and yes is sure does hurt but I tensed up for those but still jerked a lot. The worse ones was more visual what the doctor did. The doctor inserted a very fine needle in your muscle in various locations to do the shock. The needle when inserted did not hurt much but the shock was painful.
One was done by my neurologist. She wanted a second opinion as she saw some possible problems. The second test was done by a neurology specialist.
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3 ReactionsI don't see any way that I can tolerate something like that. OUCH!!!! And I have read that the paraspinal muscles are real deep so I'm assuming they would be more painful. I don't know. I know one thing, when tell them to stop, they had better stop; and not for a few seconds. When I say stop, it will be to stop the entire test!
Have you already had an MRI?
@gilkesl Yes
the nerve conductive shock part isn’t bad at all i’ve had 2 EMGs and for me, it hurt so bad they told me if you have a muscle disease then it tends to hurt worse for someone that doesn’t i don’t cry easily and it was worse than my lumbar puncture!
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3 ReactionsThat's kind of what I'm expecting. All these other folk on here act like it's nothing, but I had one done on my upper extremities years ago and I can still remember the awful pain that it entailed. The worst part was that the test administrator would not stop when I begged him to. This time, I will get it in writing when I sign the consent, that way there will be no misunderstanding at all.