Spinal cord • Main pathway of communication between the brain and the rest of the body. • Soft tube-like structure of nerves that extends downward from the base of the brain. • Protected by the bones of spinal column. - Nerves enter and exits from the spinal cord through its length, passing through small openings between each vertebra. • It is highly organized. - Anterior motor neuron – transmit information to muscles and stimulate movement. - Posterior sensory neuron – transmits information to the brain about sensations such as touch, position, pain, heat and cold.
Flexor Reflexes • A.k.a. withdrawal reflexes. • Reflexes where in the flexor muscles contract due to a cutaneous sensory stimulus.
Local Sign • Principle where the integrative centers of the cord cause groups of muscles to contract effectively and remove the pained part of the body from the object that cause pain.
Local Sign Withdrawal • A reflex directing the limb away from noxious stimuli. • An indicative of a modular organization of spinal cord.
Windup-Crossover Test • Test employing a sequence of stimuli not more than 3 seconds, used to assess whether common …show more content…
E.g. 2 test stimuli were applied to the medial arch at a 1-s interval, which were followed by 1-s later by 4 test stimuli applied to the dorsum of foot. Ten switching trials were conducted, alternating between arch to dorsum and vice versa resulting in 5 trials each. Finally, 3 windup test (single-stimulus site) were repeated for the arch and dorsum to ensure that there were no systemic changes in the response to the electrocutaneous