EMG-TYPE EDx CANNOT MEASURE FUNCTION, PAIN NERVES OR DIAGNOSE RADICULOPATHY
The EMG moniker stands for all 1918-1944 electrodiagnostic exams (EDx).
After World War II penicillin was misused for viral infections with disastrous consequences. Likewise, post WWII EMG was erroneously reported to assess function and pain fibers. EMG remained the chief radiculopathic diagnostic tool until 2010 when it was removed from pain management and neurology textbooks.
How nerves and muscle function (voltage-gated channels) earned a Nobel Prize in 1963, but not until the turn of this century was a functional EDx invented that locates and quantifies painful peripheral and radiculopathic lesions with 94.6% peer-reviewed sensitivity. The American Association of Sensory Electrodiagnostic Medicine has since certified over 800 neurosurgeons, orthopedists and pain specialists in what is now termed F-NCS. Recently the FDA Class II Neural-EDx™ combined F-NCS with the newly developed F-EMG, opening the door for non-neurologists to receive Medicare recognized certification to perform the 15 minute painless F-NCS/F-EMG EDx. Universal coverage includes Medicare, Work Compensation and Personal Injury. The following explains how F-NCS/F-EMG became the new EDx Gold-Stand for radiculopathy and many peripheral neuropathies.
1918-1944 EMG MISREPRESENTATIONS – LIES?
01
EMG cannot measure nerve function.
02
EMG cannot diagnose radiculopathy without catastrophic multiple adjacent nerve root damage.
03
EMG cannot test pain nerve fibers.
Medical literature annually cites this 1999 review and it is referenced in insurance coverage policies.
Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation - State-Of-The-Art-Review, Vol.13, No 2 June 1999
EVALUATING RADICULOPATHY: HOW USEFUL IS ELECTRODIAGNOSTIC TESTING?
Pg. 251-252: “It is difficult or impossible to clinically estimate the type or severity of nerve injury with EMG, only if there is observable muscle atrophy can one be certain motor axon degeneration has occurred.”
Pg. 258: “Studies most often used train wreck surgical cases, so sensitivities typically reported in the literature are falsely elevated and tend to lull us into thinking that electrodiagnostic evaluation of radiculopathy is both sensitive and specific.”
94.6% ACCURACY
PAINLESS
SIMPLE
FAST
QUESTIONS
Q: How were non-neurologists kept in the dark?
A: Besides studies falsely elevating sensitivity, medical interns are routinely told; “Don’t try to understand nerve disorders. Refer patients to the neurologist and read the EMG report.”
Q: Why was EMG use for radiculopathy dropped from textbooks?
A: In the late 1970s pain management became a branch of medicine. As these practices increased so too did awareness of EMG’s limitations. By 2010 every pain management and neurology textbooks remove EMG for use in diagnosing radiculopathy. If EMG is mentioned at all it is in connection to muscle atrophy and rare muscle diseases. Nowhere is there any mention of EMG diagnosing peripheral neuropathies or radiculopathies.
ABOUT REIMBURSEMENT - NOT GREAT GRANDFATHER’S EMG EDX
Reminiscent of CT-Scan in the 1970s, which insurers initially called a “billing gimmick,” around 2010 insurance giants, Gieco and State Farm, hired neurology professors and presidents of EMG organizations to explain in court filings why functional Pain Fiber F-NCS can’t work. This backfired by revealing “EMG experts” don’t understanding of pain fiber physiology and had zero knowledge on how functional electrodiagnosis is performed.
The result: Pain Fiber F-NCS and F-EMG are both universally reimbursed. All of the Medicare contracting carriers specify in that both must be performed on the same visit. Coverage ranges from around $500 to over $1200. (Read more below: EMG experts don’t understand pain physiology).
Radiculopathy: The Annual $200 Billion Problem
National Institute of Health:
Up to 80% of surgeries end with the same or worse pain. Close to 50% of non-surgical radiculopathy cases develop chronic disability.
Golden Opportunity
Doctors don’t need to be a cardiologist to use a stethoscope, nor would anyone argue that it’s illegal for a doctor to use a pinwheel and reflex hammer to diagnose nerve pathology. Likewise, doctors do not need to be a neurologist to perform the Neural-EDx™ F-EMG.
Neural-EDx™ Pledge
Perform 2 tests daily (5 days a week) and the Neural-EDx™ will return your investment in 2 months or you receive a full refund and keep whatever you earned.**
**Deductables count toward earnings as do standard local reimbursement for legal cases.
WHAT FOLLOWS
