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Tendon reflexTendon reflex (or T-reflex) is a feedback mechanism that controls increasing muscle tension by causing muscle relaxation before tension force becomes so great it may damage the muscle. Additional recommended knowledge
FunctionThe sensory receptor that detects change in tension is the golgi tendon which lie within tendon. It causes the muscle to relax via a polysynaptic reflex in order to decrease tension in the tendons. Another motor neuron sends efferent impulse to its antagonistic muscle, causing it to contract. Contrast to stretch reflexThe stretch reflex operates as a feedback mechanism to control muscle length by causing muscle contraction. In contrast, the tendon reflex operates as a feedback mechanism to control muscle tension by causing muscle relaxation before muscle force becomes so great that tendons might be torn. Although the tendon reflex is less sensitive than the stretch reflex, it can override the stretch reflex when tension is great, making you drop a very heavy weight, for example. Like the stretch reflex, the tendon reflex is ipsilateral. The sensory receptors for this reflex are called tendon Golgi receptors, which lie within a tendon near its junction with a muscle. In contrast to muscle spindles, which are sensitive to changes in muscle length, tendon organs detect and respond to changes in muscle tension that are caused by passive stretch or muscular contraction. StepsA tendon reflex operates as follows:
PathologyThe clasp-knife response is a stretch reflex with a rapid decrease in resistance when attempting to flex a joint. However, it is actually thought to be caused by the tendon reflex of the antagonistic muscle of that joint, which gets extended [1]. It is one of the characteristic responses of a upper motor neurone lesion. References
See also
Categories: Nervous system | Neurophysiology | Reflexes |
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tendon_reflex". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |