background: several prognostic factors exist influencing the outcome of surgical discectomy in the patients with lumbar disc herniation (ldh). the aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between severity of preoperative impaired ankle reflex and outcomes of lumbar discectomy in the patients with l5-s1 ldh. methods: we retrospectively evaluated 181 patients (108 male and 73 female) who...

  Background: Several prognostic factors exist influencing the outcome of surgical discectomy in the patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between severity of preoperative impaired ankle reflex and outcomes of lumbar discectomy in the patients with L5-S1 LDH. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 181 patients (108 male and 73 female) w...

Postural reflex activity during unperceived perturbation of standing was investigated in 38 elderly subjects (70-96 years old) and 10 younger adults (19-48 years old), and it was related in the elderly group to a history of unexplained falling in the 12 months prior to testing. Ankle torque (T) and ankle angle (A) were recorded during unperceived forward pulls to obtain the ankle stiffness (Del...

Recent studies have revealed that the stretch reflex responses of both ankle flexor and extensor muscles are coaugmented in the early stance phase of human walking, suggesting that these coaugmented reflex responses contribute to secure foot stabilization around the heel strike. To test whether the reflex responses mediated by the stretch reflex pathway are actually induced in both the ankle fl...

BACKGROUND Although the soleus (Sol), medial gastrocnemius (MG), and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) muscles differ in function, composition, and innervations, it is a common practice is to investigate them as single H-reflex recording. The purpose of this study was to compare H-reflex recordings between these three sections of the triceps surae muscle group of healthy participants while lying and s...

[Purpose] We investigated the effect of rhythmic ankle movement on the contralateral soleus H-reflex. The H-reflex was evoked from the right soleus muscle. [Subjects and Methods] Healthy humans rhythmically moved the left ankle (movement condition) or held the left ankle stationary (stationary condition) at one of three positions corresponding to the ankle positions at which the H-reflex was ev...

BACKGROUND The use of external ankle support is widespread throughout sports medicine. However, the application of ankle bracing to a healthy ankle over a long period has been scrutinised because of possible neuromuscular adaptations resulting in diminished dynamic support offered by the peroneus longus. OBJECTIVE To investigate the immediate and chronic effects of ankle brace application on ...

Depression of the ankle reflex is the most common neurological change in patients with impairment of conduction of the 51 nerve root. Unilateral absence of the ankle jerk is easily recognised, but it may be difficult to detect a slight reduction of response. This may be important, not only for diagnosis, but also for prognostic and therapeutic purposes, since the decrease in the reflex is very ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate a possible ankle-knee synergy, experiments with normal subjects were performed to compare changes of the quadriceps motor pool excitability due to ankle position and effort. METHODS Vastus medialis H reflex amplitude was examined during ankle isometric contractions conditioned by different ankle positions (dorsiflexion, neutral, and plantarfiexion) with or without vol...

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE Spastic equinovarus deformity of the ankle in adults with acquired brain injury can severely limit the achievement of rehabilitation goals. This study examined changes in triceps surae muscle extensibility, passive resistive torque and soleus stretch reflex responses in 10 adult brain injured subjects undergoing serial casting to correct ankle equinovarus deformity. METHOD G...