What Else Can They Do To You?

Nerve Conduction Study

This is by far one of the most annoying and painful tests I’ve had.  I’m pretty sure this “test” was originally engineered specifically for Tomás de Torquemada to extract confessions and sworn life-long allegiance during the Spanish Inquisition.

Here’s the lowdown.  An electrical device with a pair of electrodes protruding from an insulated handle of sorts is connected through a flexible cable to a variable power supply.  Electrode pads are stuck to the part of your body they want to test and cables are connected to a computer (they used an oscilloscope originally, but now everything is done on a computer).  The technician dials up the appropriate amount of electricity for the beginning of the test, presses the electrodes into your skin where they want to start testing and presses a button, Zapping the hell out of you, whereupon, you yell “Ow!” or something similar.  Your tech may repeat the same test more than once in the same place, but when they do, the current is generally increased with each subsequent “zap”.  Now, you may feel a compelling desire to play Whack-A-Mole — or Deck-The-Tech after a few of these, but that’s probably not the most productive was to spend your afternoon (in handcuffs).

The reason for this test is to see how much pain you can tolerate.

Not really.  It just seems that way.

The reason is to see how fast electrical impulses are communicated between various points of your body, which helps in the diagnosis of numerous nerve-related problems.