Traditional electrodiagnostic testing in lumbar disc herniation

For many years, traditional electrodiagnosis has been the main methodology for studying the radiculopathies. However, the current literature lacks full validation studies. We studied a population of 51 subjects with disc hernia, comparing their surgical reports with data obtained by electrodiagnostic testing. At the same time, we studied a population of 18 healthy subjects in order to obtain normative data. The analysis of the data allowed us to identify the cut-off point for positivity vs negativity of electrodiagnostic testing in the population of healthy subjects and to verify the association between electrodiagnostic variables (rheobase and chronaxie indices, and shortened strength-duration curves) and the surgical findings. The statistical analysis showed an optimal correspondence between the surgical report and the electrodiagnostic test. This methodology may be integrated with the other tests in the diagnostic phase and used in the monitoring of rehabilitative treatment.