Conclusions: Fibromyalgia was associated with a specific EMG pattern indicating premature discontinuation of the muscle contraction.
Other health conditions that cause similar symptoms must be ruled out before a fibromyalgia diagnosis can be made. Medical tests that may be ordered during the diagnostic process include blood and lab tests, imaging studies, and nerve function tests.
There are no lab or imaging tests to monitor fibromyalgia. Symptoms primarily are used to gauge severity and guide treatment.
More recently, however, studies have linked fibromyalgia with malfunctioning neurotransmitters, neurochemical imbalances and other neuropathic conditions. “Today, it's more widely accepted that fibromyalgia is primarily a neurogenic disease,” says Philippe Berenger, MD, a pain management specialist at Cleveland Clinic.
Like any diagnostic procedure or test, EMG is not perfect. A normal result does not mean a patient does not have a deficit in their nerve or muscle.
EMG results are often necessary to help diagnose or rule out a number of conditions such as: Muscle disorders, such as muscular dystrophy or polymyositis. Diseases affecting the connection between the nerve and the muscle, such as myasthenia gravis.
Symptoms include pins and needles, numbness, tingling, and weakness. People with fibromyalgia may experience the same symptoms. However, these symptoms tend to come and go in fibromyalgia. In peripheral neuropathy, they are usually constant.
Fibromyalgia was formerly classified as an inflammatory musculoskeletal disease but is now considered to be an illness that primarily affects the central nervous system.
Researchers now suspect that fibromyalgia may be related to a small fiber neuropathy (SFN), which is a structural abnormality of small nerve fibers. SFN is typically diagnosed through a skin biopsy. Individuals with SFN have reduced intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) density.
Several rheumatic diseases can mimic fibromyalgia. These include sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Lyme disease, polymyalgia rheumatica and lupus. They have symptoms of widespread pain along with joint involvement. Most rheumatic diseases are treated with medication and physical therapy.
Any soft tissue (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) may be affected. But soft tissue of the neck, upper shoulders, chest, rib cage, lower back, thighs, arms, and areas around certain joints are especially likely to be painful. Less often, the lower legs, hands, and feet are painful and stiff.
The FM/a ® Test analyzes your immune system's white blood cells for their chemokine and cytokine protein patterns. Those who suffer from fibromyalgia will show an abnormal pattern of these protective proteins.
The central feature of fibromyalgia is chronic pain in multiple sites. These sites are the head, each arm, the chest, the abdomen, each leg, the upper back and spine, and the lower back and spine (including the buttocks). The pain may be mild to severe. It may feel like a deep ache, or a stabbing, burning pain.
The pain from fibromyalgia is what typically prompts people to visit a neurologist, and this specialist may prescribe medications to control your pain. Pain Management doctors treats all forms of pain, including that caused by fibromyalgia.
The main symptoms of fibromyalgia are: Chronic, widespread pain throughout the body or at multiple sites. Pain is often felt in the arms, legs, head, chest, abdomen, back, and buttocks. People often describe it as aching, burning, or throbbing.
The main symptom of fibromyalgia is chronic (long-term) deep muscle pain in different areas of the body. The pain often feels like a pulled muscle or bad muscle ache. It can be unpredictable and vary from one day to the next – for instance, in terms of how severe it is or where in the body it occurs.
Another common symptom of “fibromyalgia” is neck, shoulder, or arm pain. But as a neurologist I know that many times these symptoms are caused by pinched nerves in the back, neck, or arm.
But despite some similarities, “for the most part, there is no mistaking symptoms of MS with fibromyalgia,” says Philip Cohen, MD, a rheumatologist, professor of medicine and professor of microbiology and immunology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Overall, irritable EMG findings predicted an inflammatory histology in only 44% of patients.
NCS and needle EMG are an extension of the neurological exam and should be performed with any motor neuron disease suspicion. Because the implications of diagnosing a patient with ALS are immense, NCS and needle EMG are vital to rule out other possible mimics of motor neuron disease.
The results of an EMG are the clearest way to identify that pinched nerves are the cause of your pain. But an EMG test is particularly useful because it shows which nerves are misfiring. Treatment for pinched nerves varies but commonly begins with a conservative recommendation to rest.