[1] The most widely used methods of recording spontaneous electrical activity are various forms of electrodiagnostic testing (electrography) such as electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG), and electromyography (EMG).
Electrodiagnostic physicians apply electrophysiologic techniques, including needle electromyography and nerve conduction studies to diagnose, evaluate, and treat people with impairments of the neurologic, neuromuscular, and/or muscular systems.
[2] In the United States, neurologists receive training in performing needle electromyography and nerve conduction studies during a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology or neuromuscular medicine.
[9] Patients will typically be referred to a specialist in electrodiagnostic medicine if they have numbness, tingling, pain, weakness or spasms.
[citation needed] Clinical neurophysiology, is a broader field that includes EEG, intraoperative monitoring, nerve conduction studies, EMG and evoked potentials.
In the early 1950s, the first society dedicated to the development of this field, the AAEE, was founded in Chicago by a group of interested specialists in neurology and physical medicine and rehabilitation.