what are doctors testing when they hit a patients knee?i know its to see if the brain is working ok but any more info? what kind of diagram could help me explain this to someone?
- ben_of_marlow
Reflexes.
- Naomi H
reflexes
- Keith M
They are testing reflexes. Simply stated. Reflexes require signal from the hammer to the spinal cord, to the brain, and back again to the muscles. So this is a very quick way to determine if something is wrong somewhere along that highway. If something in that test gives the Doctor suspicion of a problem he would order other more specific tests to pinpoint it.
EDIT- Here is a link to a sight that explains what the Dr. looks for.
- Slater V
They are checking for evidence of nerve damage. When a patient has healthy nerves then the knee will jerk upwards, but if the patient has a nervous disease then a different reaction may occur, or the reaction may be absent altogether. Hitting the knee is not the only way doctors test this, there are several other reflexes that have been observed. If you are interested you might want to check on the Babinski reflex.
- ♥ ʝɛɳ ♥
This tests for a somatic reflex arc. This link explains it in detail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_arc
Orignal From: what are doctors testing when they hit a patients knee?
No comments:
Post a Comment