Knee extension torque during repeated knee extension-flexion reversals and separated knee extension-flexion dyads.

I measured the knee extension torque, produced by eight hemiparetic patients during repeated knee extension-flexion reversals and during separated knee extension-flexion dyads, to determine the effect of "reversal of antagonists" on knee extension torque. The hemiparesis in these eight patients was secondary to intracranial lesions. I tested their involved lower extremity on an isokinetic dynamometer at 60 degrees/sec. Using a sequential medical-trials design, I found knee extension torque to be significantly greater during repeated knee extension-flexion reversals than during separated knee extension-flexion dyads (p less than .05). I, therefore, concluded that reversal of antagonists may facilitate knee extension torque production in the type of patients tested, under the specific conditions of their testing.