What is a NCV test?
A nerve in the body works somewhat like an electrical wire in your house. If you want to see if the wire is functioning properly, you need to make sure that electricity can run through it. If there are any problems along its length, you will know it by a failure of the electrical current to go through. Similar to testing current flow in a wire, nerve conduction velocity test (NCV) is an electrical test, ordered by your doctor, used to detect abnormal nerve conditions. It is usually ordered to diagnose or evaluate a nerve injury in a person who has weakness or numbness in the arms or legs. It also helps to discover how severe the condition is and how a nerve is responding to injury or to treatment. In this test, electrical signals are sent down specific nerves of the arms or legs, where an electrode placed on the skin detects the electrical impulse ‘down stream’ from the first. The nerve is stimulated with a tiny electrical current at one point. A nerve stimulator placed over the nerve
