Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Functional Consequences of Activity in Spinal Reflex Pathways

  • Chapter
Control of Human Voluntary Movement

Abstract

Although the tendon jerk had been brought to the notice of scientists as early as 1875 by Erb and Westphal, much of the early work on the stretch reflex was performed on animals. This was principally due to the fact that the tendon jerk was for many years regarded as a direct response of the muscle to percussion rather than being a reflex event.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References and Further Reading

Review Articles and Books (see also references to Chapter 5)

  • Barnes, W.J.P. and Gladden, M.H. (eds.) (1985) Feedback and Motor Control in Invertebrates and Vertebrates, Croom Helm, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, D. (1983) `Critical Examination of the Case For or Against Fusimotor Involvement in Disorders of Muscle Tone’ in J.E. Desmedt (ed.), Advances in Neurology, Vol. 39, pp. 133–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Lance, J.W., Burke, D. and Andrews, C.J. (1973) The Reflex Effects of Muscle Vibration’ in J.E. Desmedt (ed.), New Developments in Electromyography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 3, Karger, Basel, pp. 444–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, C.D., Rothwell, J.C. and Day, B.L. (1983) `Long-latency Automatic Responses to Muscle Stretch in Man: Origin and Function’ in J.E. Desmedt (ed.), Advances in Neurology, Vol. 39, pp. 509–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, P.A. (1953) `Speculations on the Servo-control of Movement’ in J.L. Malcolm, J.A.B. Gray and G.E.W. Wolstenholme (eds.), The Spinal Cord, Little Brown, Boston, pp. 183–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierrot-Deseilligny, E. and Maziers, L. (1984) `Circuits Reflexes de la Moelle Epiniere Chez l’Homme. Controle au Cours du Mouvement et Role Fonctionnel’, Rev. Neurologique, 140, pp. 605–14 and 681–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Prochazka, A. and Hulliger, M. (1983) `Muscle Afferent Function and Its Significance for Motor Control Mechanisms During Voluntary Movements in Cat, Monkey and Man in J.E. Desmedt (ed.) Advances in Neurology, Vol. 39, Raven Press, New York, pp. 93–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, A. and Prochazka, A. (1980) Muscle Receptors and Movement, MacMillan, London

    Google Scholar 

Original Papers

  • Berger, W., Horstmann, G. and Dietz, V. (1984) `Tension Development and Muscle Activation in the Leg During Gait in Spastic Hemiparesis: Independence of Muscle Hypertonia and Exaggerated Stretch Reflexes’, J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat, 47, pp. 1029–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, D., Andrews, C.J. and Lance, J.W. (1972) `The Tonic Vibration Reflex in Spasticity, Parkinson’s Disease and Normal Man’, J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat, 35, pp. 477–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, D. Gandevia, S.C. and McKeon, B. (1983) `The Afferent Volleys Responsible for Spinal Proprioceptive Reflexes in Man’, J. Physiol, 339, pp. 535–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, D. Gillies, J.D. and Lance, J.W. (1970) `The Quadriceps Stretch Reflex in Human Spasticity’, J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat, 33, pp. 216–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creed, R.S., Denny-Brown, D., Eccles, J.C. et al (1932) Reflex Activity of the Spinal Cord (2nd edn), copyright Oxford University Press (1972), Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Day, B.L., Marsden, C.D., Obeso, J.A. et al (1984) `Reciprocal Inhibition Between the Muscles of the Human Forearm’, J. Physiol, 349, pp. 519–34

    Google Scholar 

  • DeGail, P., Lance, J.W. and Nielson, P.D. (1966) `Differential Effects on Tonic and Phasic Reflex Mechanisms Produced by Vibration of Muscles in Man’, J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat, 29, pp. 1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, V., Quintern, J. and Berger, W. (1981) `Electrophysiological Studies of Gait in Spasticity’, Brain, 104, pp. 431–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eklund, G., Hagbarth, K.-E., Hagglund, J.V., et al (1982) `Mechanical Oscillations Contributing to the Segmentation of the Reflex Electromyogram Response to Stretching Human Muscles’, J. Physiol, 32, pp. 65–77 (see also pp. 79–90)

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldred, E., Granit, R. and Merton, P.A. (1953) `Supraspinal Control of the Muscle Spindles and its Significance’, J. Physiol, pp. 498–523

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, P.H., Merton, P.A. and Sutton, G.C. (1956) `Nervous Gradation of Muscular Contraction’, Br. Med. Bull, 12, pp. 214–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Houk, J.C. and Rymer, W.Z. (1981) `Neural Control of Muscle Length and Tension’ in V.B. Brooks (ed.), Handbook of Physiology, Sect. 1, Vol. II, Part 1, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp. 257–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenner, J.R. and Stephens, J.A. (1982) `Cutaneous Reflex Responses and their Central Nervous Pathways Studied in Man’, J. Physiol, 333, pp. 405–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, R., and Pierrot-Deseilligny, E. (1982) `Recurrent Inhibition of y-Motoneurones in Patients with Upper Motor Neuron Lesions’, Brain, 105, pp. 103–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kugelberg, E., Eklund, K. and Grimby, L. (1960) `An Electromyographic Study of the Nociceptive Reflexes of the Lower Limb. Mechanism of the Plantar Responses’, Brain, 83, pp. 394–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, C.D., Merton, P.A. and Morton, H.B. (1973) `Is the Human Stretch Reflex Cortical Rather than Spinal?’ Lancet, i, pp. 759–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, P.B.C., and Rushworth, G. (1958) `The Discharge from Muscle Spindles as an Indicator of y Efferent Paralysis by Procaine’, J. Physiol, 140, pp. 421–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, P.B.C. (1984) `Evidence From the Use of Vibration that the Human Long-latency Stretch Reflex Depends Upon Spindle Secondary Afferents’, J. Physiol, 348, pp. 383–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, T.R. and Houk, J.C. (1976) `The Improvement in Linearity and the Regulation of Stiffness that Results from the Action of the Stretch Reflex’, J. Neurophysiol, 39, pp. 119–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierrot-Deseilligny, E., Bergego, C., Katz, R., et al (1981) `Cutaneous Depression of lb Reflex Pathways to Motoneurones in Man’, Exp. Brain Res, 42, pp. 351–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Rymer, W.Z., Houk, J.C. and Crago, P.E. (1979) `Mechanisms of the Clasp-Knife Reflex Studied in an Animal Model, Exp. Brain Res, 37, pp. 93–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka, R. (1974) `Reciprocal la Inhibition During Voluntary Movements in Man’, Exp. Brain Res, 21, pp. 529–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatton, W.G., Bellingham, W., Verrier, M.C., et al (1984) `Characteristic Alterations in Responses to Imposed Wrist Displacements in Parkinsonian Rigidity and Dystonia Musculorum Deformans’, Can. J. Neurol. Sci, 11, pp. 281–7 (see also pp. 228–96)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallbo, A.B. (1970) `Slowly Adapting Muscle Receptors in Man’, Acta Physiol. Scand., 78, pp. 315–33 (see also 80 pp. 552–66 )

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanagisawa, N., Tanaka, R. and Ito, Z. (1975) `Reciprocal Ia Inhibition in Spastic Hemiplegia of Man’, Brain, 99, pp. 555–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK

    John C. Rothwell PhD

Authors
  1. John C. Rothwell PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1987 John C. Rothwell

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rothwell, J.C. (1987). Functional Consequences of Activity in Spinal Reflex Pathways. In: Control of Human Voluntary Movement. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7688-0_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7688-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-7690-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-7688-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation