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Physiology and Clinical Significance

Irwin A. Brody, MD; Marvin P. Rozear, MD

Arch Neurol. 1970;23(3):259-265.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE contraction of normal skeletal muscle upon direct percussion was noted in early descriptions of the muscle reflexes,^1,2 but the mechanism of this response has been poorly understood. Babinski and Jarkowski³ and Trömner⁴ distinguished this response from a reflex and observed that it may be present when reflexes are lost, as in polyneuritis. However, Wartenberg⁵ equated muscle percussion with the percussion of the tendon and the periosteum and considered the contraction response in each instance to be a reflex due to muscle stretch.

In the present investigation, the physiology of the contraction response to muscle percussion was studied in order to understand the changes in this response that are observed in neurologic disorders.

Methods

Observations were made on human subjects and on rabbits.

The human subjects were six normal adults, three neurologically normal patients undergoing spinal anesthesia, four patients with peripheral neuropathy, and two patients . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Durham, NC

From the Division of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication March 28, 1970.

Reprint requests to Division of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27706 (Dr. Brody).

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