This test helps determine how effective your nervous system is by assessing the reaction between your motor pathways and sensory responses. During the test, your doctor may tap your knees, biceps, fingers, and ankles. A normal response means your neurons respond to the tap from a reflex hammer with enough contraction about two times.
Findings of 3 or higher in all extremities may be diagnosed as brisk reflexes. A rating of 5 means that your muscles contract several times after the deep tendon reflex test. If your doctor rates your reactions 0 or 1, your muscles show little to no contraction during the test. The most common cause of low reflex response is peripheral neuropathy. Diabetes, anemia, and vitamin deficiency are possible causes of absent reflexes.
If your doctor suspects a neurological disorder, they will order more tests. Imaging tests, such as MRI, can help your doctor see neurological damage. Treatment for brisk reflexes depends on the underlying cause. If you have a neurological disorder, medications can help manage the condition and lead to reflex stability.
For example, ALS is treated with medications to reduce neuron damage. MS treatments focus on reducing the inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. For all causes of brisk reflexes, physical or occupational therapy can help. A series of sessions can help you learn exercises and movement strategies to help modify active reflexes. You may also learn techniques to maintain independence. An above-average reaction to a reflex test could indicate an underlying neurological condition.
However, you doctor will need to conduct other tests to make a diagnosis. After the reflex test, your doctor may also test your gait. Your doctor might periodically perform a reflex test to see if neuron function has improved or deteriorated. So what is the point of the test?
Molly Tring, Maldon, Essex Within each tendon one finds a stretch receptor. The latter can be stimulated by tapping the tendon with a rubber mallet, whereupon the associated muscle contracts slightly. This simple reflex forms the basis of the test performed by doctors during the examination of a patient's central and peripheral nervous system. It has countless uses, as the speed and forcefulness of the response varies in disease states.
Damage to the brain or spinal cord can produce very brisk reflexes in the affected limb, whilst damage to a peripheral nerve produces dimished or absent reflexes. The patient with a bad headache and brisk relexes in his right arm and right leg might make one suspicious of a left sided brain tumour, whilst severe fatigue coupled with absent or delayed reflexes in every limb, might point to an underactive thyroid.
C Partridge, Manchester, UK I also have no such reflex - in fact, the army medical officer who first recorded this told me that, according to his little hammer, my existence was in doubt! Since then, I have twice found myself in life-threatening situations where avoidance action would have been sensible, but I froze on each occasion and only survived by sheer good fortune.
Perhaps the army reasoned that entrusting the lives of others to someone incapable of split-second reaction would have been a bad idea - they never promoted me. Steve Murray, Halifax, W Yorks If the questioner has no kneejerk reflex, I hope she quickly takes over as Home Secretary - or, at least, leader of the opposition. David Lewin, Cowley, Oxford As a medical student I was advised to look in patients' eyes if they had absent reflexes.
It is accompanied by absent or diminished knee and ankle reflexes, is more common in women than men, and is of absolutely no significance. Paul Climie, Glasgow, Scotland The questioner must have a kneejerk reflex, to allow him to reflexively respond to events such as jumping and running. When your foot touches the ground under load and your "kneejerk" tendon begins to stretch, the thigh muscles immediately begin to tense to dampen the movement and prevent your bottom touching the floor.
Whether a GP can stimulate the reflex to perform with a rubber hammer is a different question. Home Explore the BBC. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.
Prehistoric Life. The mind The body. Nervous system. Brain Sex Sleep. Reflexes: Involuntary and rapid actions Control: Your spinal cord usually controls your reflexes Autonomic reflexes: Body functions such as digestion or blood pressure.
Health - Nerve function test.
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