Im happy and unhappy at the same time. I kind of wanted to hear something. I still have the intense pain in the ring and pinky of my dominant (right) hand. And still wake up wtih numbness and pain from my arm being bent during the night. The muscle wasting and weakness is still present...but my doc said the EMG came back normal.

AHHH how frustrating. He suggested seeing an orthopedic surgeon. Im thinking to myself, "why? if the EMG is normal whats that gonna do?" Im currently looking for some hand specialists in northeast ohio that my insurance will accept...what a nightmare.

Always4irish,

My EMG came back "unremarkable" as well, but my Orthopedic Surgeon through physical exam was not convinced of its findings. He transposed my Ulnar at the elbow, the wrist/hand and released my last 2 fingers - perfect fix? No, not yet, I am seeing positive changes in the "baby step" phase now at the 3 month mark. Sometimes actual exams are more reliable than the electrical results. See what the Orthopedist finds before you make a final decision. I still don't know how much I will get back, but so far the only numb areas left are the palm side of my pinkie, but the wrist, hand, ring finger and top of pinkie have come back. Even if there were no more improvement (which I doubt strongly is the case), the result is a zillion percent better. Good luck with it. Keep all of us posted on your follow-ups and decisions.

EMG tests only show when the nerve has been damaged and is losing its ability to send/receive signals. You can still have pain, shocks and numbness symptoms of cubital tunnel syndrome even with a perfect EMG.

My first EMG a few years back showed no problems, even though I was in significant pain. I felt the same way as you do now... was this just all in my head? It's bad enough there are no outward, visible signs of CuTS, but then to have a clean EMG test, it can be frustrating, and certainly difficult to get any sympathy from your boss, coworkers, friends and family.

When I had my second EMG test a couple years later (earlier this year), it did show some decrease in nerve conduction. That, and the increasing pain, were the triggers that finally sent me into surgery.

I recommend you find a hand doctor with direct experience treating CuTS and who can look beyond the EMG to treat your elbow pain. You don't need a test to know that you are in pain and need help.

Good luck, and please stop back and let us know if you find a good doctor.

As I posted in my "Report on my ..." surgery thread:

- During my initial consultation, Dr. Neviaser made one thing very clear: nerve conduction tests and EMGs are not proper objective diagnostic exams. They are completely unnecessary, and worse, may cause a false-positive result for patients who do not have carpal or cubital tunnel conditions. He indicated a well-trained doctor should be able to properly diagnose carpal or cubital tunnel conditions by simple tests conducted over a few minutes in the doctor's office. For me, these simple tests included examining my "funny bone", putting my elbow and wrist in peculiar conditions (causing them to go numb), and using a little octagonal thingie with little, dull needles on the ends to test nerves on the edges of the fingers.

Re: During my initial consultation, Dr. Neviaser made one thing very clear: nerve conduction tests and EMGs are not proper objective diagnostic exams. They are completely unnecessary, and worse, may cause a false-positive result for patients who do not have carpal or cubital tunnel conditions.

I am not a doctor, so I am certainly not qualified to negate your doctor's beliefs. But there are many studies and anecdotal reports on the Web about these tests. From what I've seen, MCVs are useful for diagnosing cubital tunnel syndrome, and EMGs are not that useful.

Specifically: "MCV tests indicating decreased velocity across the elbow segment of the ulnar nerve are useful to diagnose cubital tunnel syndrome." and "MCV test results one month after surgery are important factors that determine ultimate success."

Please see this article: http://www.cubital-tunnel.com/blog/studies-on-cubital-tunnel-syndrome/

My doctor told me that positive MCV tests (showing loss of nerve conduction) typically indicate cubital tunnel syndrome, but negative tests (showing no loss) don't disprove cubital tunnel.

i.e., You can have cubital tunnel syndrome but still have a negative MCV test.

He did not recommend that I get an EMG. So that seems consistent with what other people are saying here.