Info about Neurology
neurologists and you
A neurologist is a doctor that is treating nervous system disorders, like the one that are related with the brain or nerves. But they examine also the muscles, because they want to see the way that they move and also the strength of the muscles. For some patients, it might be important to test their reflexes and balance, to see if they were affected after an accident, etc. When a patient is just recovering after a severe trauma, a neurologist is called because other cognitive abilities, like memory, the power to speak or the sensation can be affected also. But when the doctor that is treating a patient isn't sure about the diagnostic of a patient, he might need the help of a neurologist. He is the only one able to perform some tests, like the CAT scan, which means a scan of the computed axial tomography. He is also the one able to perform a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or a nerve conduction velocity test. The spinal fluid can tell the doctor many things about the state of an patient, and if he might be infected with a virus for example or other disorders. This is why he will do a lumbar puncture, an procedure that is not so easy to make, because the patient needs to stay steel, while the neurologist is inserting a long needle in his spine. If something gets wrong, the patient can be in the danger of not walking any more.
But the neurologist is also the only one capable of giving a treatment to the patient that has a nervous system disorder. But in order to be a neurologist in the first place, he needs to accomplish some requirements. Two of them is to have a MD degree (doctor of medicine) and also to have a special training during a three years period, in a neurology residency program. Of course that this program needs to be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
This is the moment when the neurologist is able to perform tests and after the result of the test is given, to give the best treatment. They have a special degree, given by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. They have already probably a subspecialty, like movement disorders. So if the MD doctor believes his patient has moving disorders, he will say to the hospital's neurologist to perform some reflexes tests.