What are the branches of the tibial nerve?
The tibial nerve divides into its two main branches in the region of the tarsal tunnel. These branches are the medial plantar nerve and the lateral plantar nerve.
What is the H wave reflex?
The Hoffmann reflex (H-wave) is produced by alpha-motoneuron activation in the spinal cord. A feature of this electromyography response is that it exhibits fluctuations in amplitude even during repetitive stimulation with the same intensity of current.
What are the branches of sciatic nerve?
Before entering the popliteal fossa, the nerve terminates by splitting into two large terminal branches: the tibial nerve and common fibular (peroneal) nerve. The main function of the sciatic nerve is to provide sensory and motor supply to the skin and muscles of the thigh, leg and foot.
What mechanisms are responsible for H reflex facilitation?
Short latency facilitation of the H-reflex may be attributed to temporal summation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials arising from muscle spindle afferents during rapid muscle lengthening. At longer latencies, presynaptic inhibition of Ia afferents cannot be excluded as a potential inhibitory mechanism.
How do you do the H reflex?
The procedure to elicit the H-reflex usually involves applying a percutaneous electric stimulus to a mixed nerve. For example, when eliciting the soleus H-reflex, a 1-millisecond square wave pulse is applied to the posterior tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa.
What influences the size of the H reflex?
Factors that are known to alter H-reflex amplitude include the level of background activation (Butler et al. 1993), muscle length (Gerilovsky et al. 1989), movement velocity (Romano & Schieppati, 1987), activation history (Proske et al.
What is H reflex inhibition?
The H-reflex is an estimate of alpha motoneuron (αMN) excitability when presynaptic inhibition4 and intrinsic excitability5 of the αMNs remain constant.