Electrodiagnostic techniques

The first application of electricity to the study of excitability of nerve and muscle was at the latter half of the 19th Century when Erb (1883) described the galvanic-faradic test. Lord Adrian was the first to demonstrate the clinical application of strength-duration curves, and they became widely used in the assessment of peripheral nerve injuries during the 1939-45 War. Electromyography, or the study of the electrical activity of muscles by means of needle electrodes, was first employed about forty years ago in animal research work but soon afterwards was also applied to the study of clinical problems.