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What happens if you have no reflexes in your knees?

Raymond

What happens if you have no reflexes in your knees?

The normal response is a ‘knee jerk’. This is an example of a reflex, which is an involuntary muscular response elicited by the rubber hammer tapping the associated tendon. When reflex responses are absent this could be a clue that the spinal cord, nerve root, peripheral nerve, or muscle has been damaged.

What can a lack of patellar reflex indicate?

Patellar tendon reflex. In a normal test, your knee will extend and lift your foot a little. A decreased or absent reflex may mean that there is compression in the L2, L3, or L4 region.

Does knee jerk reflex involve the brain?

Doctors will test reflexes by tapping the tendon just below the knee, and this causes the leg to kick out. This knee-jerk reflex is an example of a simple monosynaptic reflex. This quick response is called a reflex, and reflexes occur without conscious thinking or planning, meaning the brain is not involved in them.

What types of diseases might a patient have if they are non responsive for these reflexes?

These include:

  • Infectious maternal diseases (Aids, Rebella, Syphilis, etc.)
  • Chronic maternal conditions (Hypo or Hyperthyroidism, Diabetes, etc.)

What is it called when you have no reflexes?

Hyporeflexia refers to below normal or absent reflexes (areflexia). It can be detected through the use of a reflex hammer.

Why do doctors test knee reflex?

Medical author Dr Janice Rachel Mae explains that doctors routinely use reflex tests to check if there are any problems in the nervous system involved in movement, nerve functioning or health of the connective tissue in the knee or leg.

What conditions would diminish reflexes?

Congenital disorders, trauma, and non-congenital disease can also cause innate, neural pathways necessary to engage motor reflex programs to become blocked or damaged.

  • Congenital Disorders.
  • Trauma or Disease.
  • Reflex Dysfunction & Prolonged Intermittent or Chronic Stress.
  • Non-Congenital Disease.

What can cause decreased reflexes?

What causes hyporeflexia?

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) More commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a progressive neurological disease that destroys brain and spinal cord cells.
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)
  • Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
  • Hypothyroidism.

Do patients with knee reflex abnormalities have reduced ankle tendon reflex?

The knee reflex of the unaffected leg could be elicited normally in all 56 patients. Of the subjects with knee reflex abnormalities, only one had a reduced ankle tendon reflex.

What are the causes of absent of knee jerk?

What are the causes of absent of knee jerk? 1 Absence of the knee jerk signify an abnormality anywhere within the reflex arc,… 2 In general the afferent loop is much more critical for reflex function than the efferent loop,… 3 The most common cause is a peripheral neuropathy from such things as diabetes, alcoholism, and toxins.

What is the prevalence of knee reflex abnormalities in the US?

Of the 56 patients, 17 (30.3%, 9 males and 8 females) had an absent (two subjects) or reduced (15 subjects) knee tendon reflex compared with the contralateral side. The knee reflex of the unaffected leg could be elicited normally in all 56 patients. Of the subjects with knee reflex abnormalities, only one had a reduced ankle tendon reflex.

What is the age difference between absent and reduced knee reflex?

The mean age of the patients (17 subjects) with absent or reduced knee reflex was 47.6±9.7 years, whereas in the other group (39 subjects) it was 51±8.9 years (difference not significant); in the former group the BMI was 25.4±3.2 kg/m2, in the latter 24.9±3.7 (difference not significant).