[Measurement of muscle reflex time in radicular disorders of the lumbosacral region].

The results of studies performed by the authors show that time measurements of proprioceptive muscular reflexes (triceps surae and tibialis posterior reflexes) may be considered a valuable addition to methods of topical diagnosis of radicular disturbances in the lumbosacral region. The reflexes were tested in twenty normal subjects. There were found an intraindividual constancy of the respective reflex time with a maximum deviation of 2 ms as well as a lateral variability up to 1.3 ms. Radicular compressions resulted in an increase in reflex time by 2 to 66 ms or failure of the reflex potential to be recorded. The pathological cases were compared with clinical and neurological studies, positive myelographies using radiopaque substances, and results of surgical operations. Compared with the results of surgical operations, changes in reflex time indicated damage to the reflex arc in ninety percent of the cases.