does anyone here know of a good doctor in Grand Rapids Michigan would be willing to do surgery with a negative EMG?I'm in the same position of many of you on here who have had negative BMG's but have all the symptoms of cub.tunnel syn.

Thank you,

CSP 001

My doctor told me that pain with a negative NCV/EMG means that your nerve is being compressed enough to cause pain but not loss of nerve signal. This is good news (no nerve damage!) and bad news (pain!). My first NCV was negative in spite of fairly significant pain. My second NCV was very positive, resulting in decompression surgery.

Many doctors won't perform surgery with a negative test because that means conservative treatment is still a possibility. While searching for a new doctor, you may want to consider conservative treatment options such as nerve gliding exercises, changing your work habits and positions, getting special computer keyboard and mouse, etc.

Good luck in your search!

Timm-

What does it mean when the ncv is negative and the emg is very positive?

Hey all,

I actually did have surgery x 2 (left) with negative EMG/NCV. My doc waited for about 6 months while we tried conservative measures before he did decompression. My EMG/NCV prior to sub-muscular transposition was also negative but I had fairly significant clawing at that point. He made me consult with neurology first but did the surgery after my neuro clearance. When I started to claw on my right side, we skipped the EMG/NCV. Now I'm 5 months out from that one and clawing has just about resolved.

My doc did reiterate time and time again that prognosis following surgery with negative EMG/NCV was very uncertain and I could actually get worse after the surgery. I had to make the gamble, because there were some aspects of my job I couldn't do with the numbness I was experiencing.

I was very slow to recover following all my surgeries and especially after my first, I questioned whether I should have done it. Now of course I'm glad I did.

Chris