The Effect of Increasing the Number of Stimuli and Intensity of Muscle Contraction on the Cutaneomuscular Reflexes in Tibialis Anterior in Man

Research on cutaneomuscular reflexes of the leg originated from studies of the Babinski sign. Cutaneomuscular reflexes (CMRs) with polyphasic excitatory and inhibitory components can be elicited in normal adults following innocuous electrical stimulation of the toes. The general pattern is polyphasic with an excitation followed by an inhibition and then a second excitation (Gibbs, Shiers, Mallik, Harrison & Stephens, 1993; Bagheri & Baxendale, 1993, 1994). The earliest components of CMRs have latencies consistent with segmental spinal pathways but the later components are slow enough to allow for supraspinal pathways. We have examined the effect of repetitive stimuli and the magnitude of the background muscle contraction on the amplitude of CMRs.