Active movement against gravity
2: Active movement, gravity eliminated
1: Flicker of contraction
0: No visible muscle contraction.
Limitations: inability to record slight weakness & dependence on cooperation. ‘I could just overcome hip flexion’ is better than 4+ and 4−. ‘Give‐way’ weakness means poor effort and/or pain. Assess skilled hand & foot movement: ‘play piano, wriggle toes’.
Assess fatiguability, if needed. Consider focal or general muscle wasting, fasciculation, muscle bulk/consistency, myotonia.
Cerebellar Signs
Look for dysmetria (past pointing) and action tremor.
Dysmetria: place the patient’s forefinger on the point of your tendon hammer shaft, at the limit of their reach; ‘now, please touch the tip of your nose, and back’. Move the shaft to a different position. Do not test finger–nose–finger rapidly – this misses early dysmetria. Follow with other tests – try circular polishing of the dorsum of the opposite hand with a single finger, and alternating forearm pronation/supination.
In the lower limb heel–shin test:
Raise one leg, touch your opposite ankle with your heel and then move the heel up your shin, to the knee and down again.
Repeat the sequence. Simply gliding one heel up and down the shin can miss early ataxia.
Foot tapping also elicits incoordination.
Knee jerks with a pendular pattern ‐ slow and swinging ‐ or absent reflexes do occur with cerebellar disease, if seldom.
Dysarthria is usually obvious.
Nystagmus rarely occurs without other cerebellar features.
Remember: a midline cerebellar lesion may cause gait and trunk ataxia without limb ataxia.
Tendon Reflexes
Ensure the patient is relaxed – with head and trunk supported. Minor asymmetry is common, and reduced knee jerks compared with ankle jerks. Reinforcement: ask the patient to clench their teeth and then relax. Original Jendrassik manoeuvre: hook fingers together and pull.
Do not miss slow relaxing reflexes: hypothyroidism.
Absent Reflex→Clonus nomenclature
| 0 | Absent with reinforcement | Almost always pathological |
| ± | Present with reinforcement | Sometimes normal; may be pathological |
| + | Present | Normal |
| ++ | Brisk | Normal |
| +++ | Very brisk | Pathological if tone increased; can be normal |
| CL | Clonus | >3 beats of ankle clonus = pathological; 2 beats may be normal |
Spinal levels of tendon reflexes, a.k.a. deep tendon reflexes – DTRs in US
| C5–6 | Supinator |
| C5–6 | Biceps |
| C7 | Triceps |
| C8 | Finger jerks |
| L(3)4 | Knee |
| S1 | Ankle |
Extensor Plantar (Babinski)
Babinski published the 26‐line phénomène des orteils (toes) in 1896. An extensor is an indication of a brain or cord UMN lesion. A reproducible upgoing toe by any reasonable stroking action on the foot is abnormal. Extensors are exceptional in normal adults.
Superficial Abdominal Reflexes
Elicit muscle twitches by gentle stroking each quadrant with an orange‐stick – not with a needle. Superficial abdominals are lost with pyramidal lesions and hard to elicit or absent in the obese. Preservation of upper superficial abdominal reflexes with absent lower abdominals can occur with a thoracic sensory level in cord compression (T10 = umbilicus).
Respiration, Diaphragm
Respiration and the diaphragm can be assessed by observing inspiration and expiration and abdominal muscles. Selective diaphragm weakness causes paradoxical upward movement of the umbilicus – well seen with the patient supine during sniffing. Measure vital capacity.
Lower and Upper Motor Neurone Lesions
See Table 4.2.
Table 4.2 Lower (LMN) & upper motor neurone (UMN) lesions.
| Feature | LMN | UMN |
| Muscle wasting, a.k.a. amyotrophy | Visible | Absent |
| Fasciculation | Visible | Absent |
| Fibrillation | Recordable on EMG, visible in tongue | Absent |
| Tone | Flaccid/normal | Increased/spastic type |
| Weakness pattern | Root, nerve or distal | Pyramidal + dexterity |
| Tendon reflexes | Depressed/usually absent | Exaggerateda |
| Clonus | Absent |
|
