why does the doctor tap your knee with that little tomahawk to test your reflexes?
Question:
Answers:
What they are doing is stretching the tendons when they strike you. Your body should have a natural tendancy to contract the tendon, therefore contracting the attached muscle. This produces the leg jerk you see if they are hitting your knee. If there is no leg jerk, there could be a problem with your nervous pathways, or with another area of your body. This test can be performed on various joints in the body, including the knee, elbow, and wrist.
Other Answers:
The reflexes test for nerve damage below the brain. If you do not have reflexes on one side but do on the other you could have a problem with the nerves at some point on the reflex arc.
We do this because it is a good place to get a reflex action, the nerves are close to the skin there so a light tap will do it. I don't know!
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