A nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test, also named a nerve conduction study (NCS), measures how fast electrical charges move through your nerves. Ultimately, NCV can help us find nerve damage.

During your initial test, we stimulate your nerve, typically with non-invasive electrode patches attached to your skin. Two electrodes are placed on the skin over your nerve. One stimulates your nerve with a very mild electrical charge. The other electrode then measures and records it. This process is then repeated for each nerve being tested.

Effectively, the speed in which the electrical impulses move between the two electrodes is then calculated by measuring the distance between the electrodes and the time it takes for electrical impulses to travel between them.