Case Study: Lumbar Radiculopathy
Recently a patient was referred to us with possible Lumbar radiculopathy. Emory Healthcare defines lumbar radiculopathy as a disease involving the lumbar spinal nerve root. This can manifest as pain, numbness, or weakness of the buttock and leg. Dr. Martinos performed an electromyograph (EMG) on the patient to learn more about the cause of this issue is. An EMG is defined as an electrodiagnostic testing technique. It is used evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. When stimulating the fibular (peroneal) motor nerve with maximal recruitment, we should always have a greater amplitude at the most distal stimulation point. However, every now and again there will be a loss of amplitude most distally. What happened? If we stimulate at the lateral ankle, we can see that this patient has an accessory deep...