These were then approved by the AANEM Board of Directors. The PPC reviewed the feedback from this group and voted on the final Top Ten recommendations. The committee’s recommendations were discussed at an AANEM Board meeting that included chairs from AANEM committees. The PPC members identified areas to be included on this list based on the greatest potential for overuse/misuse, quality improvement and availability of strong evidence-based research/support in the literature. We aimed to investigate possible subtle phrenic nerve injury in patients with cervical spondylosis. EMGs are only useful if there is a significant pinched nerve and motor weakness.

In your case, it is unlikely that an EMG test will give any information as the nerve is most likely not the source of pain generation in the neck.

The PPC includes both neurologists and physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) physicians who come from varying practice settings and also includes the AANEM’s representatives to the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology Panel and Relative Value Update Committee. Phrenic nerve injury can be evaluated using multiple modalities including esophageal and gastric manometry, phrenic nerve conduction studies (NCS), diaphragmatic electromyography (EMG), or ultrasound 5. Neck pain is typically generated from degenerated discs or facets similar to knee pain from an arthritic knee joint.

The Professional Practice Committee (PPC) of the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) developed this list of recommendations.

Emg test for neck pain