Electromyography records the electrical signals muscles produce. A fine needle placed in the muscle picks up activity at rest and during contraction. Combined with nerve conduction studies, which measure how signals travel along nerves, it shows whether a problem lies in the nerve, the muscle, or the junction between them.
Electromyography records the electrical signals muscles produce. A fine needle placed in the muscle picks up activity at rest and during contraction. Combined with nerve conduction studies, which measure how signals travel along nerves, it shows whether a problem lies in the nerve, the muscle, or the junction between them.
Muscle fibres generate small electrical signals when they contract, and those signals have a characteristic shape and timing when everything is working normally. The needle electrode records them directly. A healthy muscle is electrically silent at rest; abnormal spontaneous activity at rest is a meaningful finding. During gentle contraction, the size, shape and recruitment pattern of the signals indicate whether the muscle itself is diseased or whether it has lost nerve supply.
The two answer different halves of the same question. Nerve conduction studies stimulate a nerve through the skin and measure how fast and how strongly the signal arrives, which reveals whether the nerve is slowed, blocked or reduced in amplitude. Electromyography then shows what has happened downstream in the muscle. Read together, they distinguish a neuropathy from a myopathy, localise a lesion to a specific nerve or nerve root, and give a sense of how long a problem has been present, since changes evolve over weeks.
Imaging shows structure; electromyography shows function. A nerve can look compressed on a scan without any functional consequence, and a nerve can be functionally damaged with entirely normal imaging. That is why the two are complementary rather than interchangeable. At CNS the study is performed and interpreted by the same neurologist, in laboratories that hold AANEM accreditation independently at both offices, which is what allows the protocol to be extended mid-session when an early finding redirects the question.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.