Question: how long does it take to test a muscle?

Mathew Piasecki answered on 17 Jun 2014:

It depends on what it is you’re testing. The quickest and most simple test is strength, which can take a few minutes with the right equipment. However, if you want more information, such as how many muscle fibres are working during a small contraction, and how this changes as the contraction increases, then you need to use electrodes to detect the electrical activity in the muscle.

There are 2 ways to do this, the easiest is to stick a surface electrode over the skin, but then the signal has to come from the muscle through a layer of fat (which differs in each person) then through the skin to the electrode. A more accurate, and more difficult way to do it is to place electrodes inside the muscle, which involves threading a small needle through the skin into the muscle. This is usually quite painless, unless you hit a sensory nerve and then it may sting a bit.

We like to think the data we get is worth the pain!