Hi, ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is a group of rare neurological disease that mainly involve the nerve cells, responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. Voluntary muscles produce movements like chewing, walking and talking etc. No single test can diagnose ALS. ALS is primarily diagnosed with proper history, signs and symptoms during physical examination as well as a series of tests particularly to rule out the other mimicking conditions. EMG is a special recording technique, which records the electrical activity of muscle fibers. Another common test is a nerve conduction study (NCS), which assesses, the electrical activity of nerves and muscles by assessing the ability of a nerve to send the signals along the nerve to the muscle. Thus these test may tell us about the presence of disease of peripheral nerves (neuropathy) or muscles (myopathy), and ruling out the possibility of ALS. Therefore in your case, EMG definitely seems a primary test to proceed further for your diagnosis. The earlier it is done, better it is for diagnosis. Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Satnarain Bansal, General & Family Physician