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It is a type of stretch reflex that tests the function of the gastrocnemius muscle and the nerve that supplies it. A positive result would be the jerking of the foot towards its plantar surface. Being a deep tendon reflex, it is monosynaptic. It is also a stretch reflex. These are monosynaptic spinal segmental reflexes.
The term "deep tendon reflex", if it refers to the muscle stretch reflex, is a misnomer. "Tendons have little to do with the response, other than being responsible for mechanically transmitting the sudden stretch from the reflex hammer to the muscle spindle.
Deep tendon reflexes: Reflexes: masseter, biceps and triceps tendon, knee tendon, ankle jerk and plantar (i.e., Babinski sign). Globally, brisk reflexes suggest an abnormality of the UMN or pyramidal tract, while decreased reflexes suggest abnormality in the anterior horn, LMN, nerve or motor end plate. A reflex hammer is used for this testing.
Hoffmann's reflex is a deep tendon reflex (spindle fibre) with a monosynaptic reflex pathway in Rexed lamina IX of the spinal cord, normally fully inhibited by descending input. On the other hand, the plantar reflex is more complicated and not a deep tendon reflex, and its pathway is both more complicated and not fully understood. [8]
It can be detected through the use of a reflex hammer and is the opposite of hyperreflexia. [ citation needed ] Hyporeflexia is generally associated with a deficit in the lower motor neurons (at the alpha motor neurons from the spinal cord to a muscle), whereas hyperreflexia is often attributed to lesions in the upper motor neurons (along the ...
Exaggerated (brisk) deep tendon reflexes such as this can be found in upper motor neuron lesions, hyperthyroidism, [6] anxiety or nervousness. The test itself assesses the nervous tissue between and including the L2 and L4 segments of the spinal cord. [1] The patellar reflex is often tested in infants to test the nervous system. [7]
The deep tendon reflexes are also diminished or absent; for example, the "knee jerk" or patellar reflex may be lacking (Westphal's sign). A complication of tabes dorsalis can be transient neuralgic paroxysmal pain affecting the eyes and the ophthalmic areas, previously called "Pel's crises" after Dutch physician P.K. Pel .
The stretch reflex (myotatic reflex), or more accurately "muscle stretch reflex", is a muscle contraction in response to stretching a muscle. The function of the reflex is generally thought to be maintaining the muscle at a constant length but the response is often coordinated across multiple muscles and even joints. [ 1 ]