Direct stimulation: a useful technique.

Direct muscular stimulation is quick, simple, non-invasive and can be carried out at the patient's bedside. More importantly, it is reliable even when the patients cannot cooperate or are comatose. From the small amount of data available, it seems to be as accurate as neuromuscular biopsy in diagnosing critical illness myopathy. It would therefore be advisable to use it in everyday clinical practice.