Evaluation of the patellar tendon reflex with reflex hammer that can measure impact force,muscle vibration and CMAP [Patella T refleksinin vuruş gücü ölçebilen refleks çekici,kas vibrasyonu ve BKAP ile değerlendirilmesi]

Purpose: the main aim of the study was to assess the patella t reflex by observing the correlation between the force applied to the tendon,subsequent muscle vibrations,and the reflex response. therefore,a system was designed with the aim of evaluating three parameters: emg compound muscle action potential (cmap),the force which causes the muscle to vibrate,and vibration (measured from the skin's surface). a reflex hammer (showing the moment when the reflex is triggered and the force that triggers the reflex) was used in this study. materials and methods: 10 healthy individuals with an average age of 30.2 ± 10 years were included in the study. the participants in this survey had no neurological disease. the force triggering the reflex is individually from the beginning of the patella t reflex to the end-point. a vibration sensor was placed on the muscle and the results were analyzed with an emg measurement system. for the evaluation of the patella t reflex,the correlation between the force triggering the reflex and muscle vibration,emg and muscle vibration,and emg and the force triggering the reflex,were investigated. results: there is not a linear relationship between vibration and force or between force and emg (respectively,r² = 0.005,r² = 0.0003) but a linear relationship was observed between vibration and emg (r² = 0.44). having reached saturation point after a certain force,no differences were observed in the cmap emg. discussion: the force initiates the reflex movement,but the reflex response is related to the vibration which the force created in the muscle. a linear correlation is observed between the amplitude of the reflex response and the vibration the reflex hammer creates on the muscle. relatively brisk reflexes can be trigged with small forces but a greater trigging force does not bring about a relevant increase in cmap emg. © 2016,ege university press. all rights reserved.