Sensory conduction in the musculocutaneous nerve.

This report describes an antidromic technique for studying conduction in the sensory branch of the musculocutaneous nerve, the lateral cutaneous nerve of the forearm. Surface stimulation was done at the elbow where the nerve becomes superficial, and surface recordings were made 12 cm distally over the course of the nerve. Sixty nerves in 30 normal persons were examined. The mean latency to onset of the action potential was 1.8 +/- 0.1 msec with a mean conduction velocity of 65 +/- 3.6 meters/sec. Mean amplitude of the action potential was 24 +/- 7.2 muv.