The thinking behind this is that the longer you hold a stretch, the more likely the muscle's defense mechanism, or stretch reflex, will kick in.
12.
The knee jerk is the popularly known stretch reflex ( involuntary kick of the lower leg ) induced by tapping the knee with a rubber-headed hammer.
13.
The cocontraction of antagonistic muscles, posture of the limb, and stretch reflexes within the limb all contribute to stiffness and are affected by the nervous system.
14.
This confusion potentially leaves health professionals attempting to inhibit an exaggerated stretch reflex to improve muscle performance, potentially leaving more significant UMNS changes such as weakness unaddressed.
15.
For example, " alpha-gamma co-activation " might keep the spindles taut when a muscle is contracted, preserving stretch reflex sensitivity even as the muscle fibers become shorter.
16.
When a muscle spindle is stretched and the stretch reflex is activated, the opposing muscle group must be inhibited to prevent from working against the agonist muscle.
17.
Spasticity is an exaggerated stretch reflex, which means that a muscle has a reflex contraction when stretched, and that this contraction is stronger when the stretch is applied more quickly.
18.
They incorporated EMG in their use of a novel motorized manipulandum due to its ability to detect stretch reflex activity and thus incorporate the velocity-dependent nature of spasticity in the resulting diagnostic values.
19.
After stroke or spinal cord injury in humans, spastic hypertonus ( spastic paralysis ) often develops, whereby the stretch reflex in flexor muscles of the arms and extensor muscles of the legs is overly sensitive.
20.
"By holding the stretch for less time, you don't engage the stretch reflex, " said Jim Wharton, a trainer and the president of Maximum Performance International in New York, who, with his son, Phil, specializes in AI Stretching.
