How Much Does an EMG Hurt?
Now we’re getting to a more pertinent question. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good answer. To be more clear, I have done EMGs on myself, not for the entertainment value or to “understand the pain” my patients are going through, but typically to evaluate a new EMG machine, or maybe make sure it was working. And this includes sticking a needle in a muscle, always an interesting experience, since it seems I usually use a hand muscle to more easily relax it while I fiddle with the equipment. So on a personal level I have an understanding about how much it hurts, but that doesn’t really help much. The problem is, the reactions that one person has versus another are quite unpredictable and I have to say hard to make sense out of. Some tears are common; occasionally, not often, someone will bail out in the middle, saying, “That’s enough, I’m done.” But you can have a grown man crying, saying how awful the test is, and next do a child who hardly complains at all – what does that mean? What A
