The commonest reason to have #Nerve #Conduction Studies is to evaluate #Carpal #Tunnel #Syndrome. There is a frequent misconception that these are painful and take forever to do. In the hands of an expert these should be quick and fairly painless.
In this video I demonstrate my own practice which is in line with the BSCN Standards and Guidelines as well as those of the AANEM (F-waves are an extra check that I like to do, and apologies for the typo on the 2nd ADM F-wave).
The study was performed at a leisurely pace in less than 2 minutes. My colleague, Paolo, was clearly not harmed, rendered in pain, nor needed to have his hair combed down afterwards!
This type of test would be typical for mild through to severe carpal tunnel. At both extremes of severity i.e. very mild CTS and extremely-severe CTS some extra tests would often be necessary and so would likely increase the overall time taken. Patients should also be aware that to help the process they need to arrive with loose clothing (for fast access), not have creams or oils applied to their skin (these act as electrical insulators) and make sure that they are dressed warmly in the winter (otherwise we need to spend extra time warming the limbs in water baths). Please help us with these - to help you!
I haven't shown the traces (studies were performed on a Dantec Keypoint G3) because that's not what this video is about, but they were all of superb quality.
I should say that some patients are very sensitive to the electrical stimulation, even at very small currents. This should always be the exception rather than the rule. Studies in these circumstances should be very focused and be guided by patient tolerance.
