The plantar reflex in young healthy adults

The plantar reflex was empirically observed to be relatively absent in Africans about three decades ago. It was hypothesised that barefoot walking that was the custom of the patients studied at the time, might have made the soles of the feet insensitive to stimulation. In a sample of 193 young adults who do not walk barefoot and had no clinical evidence of hyperkeratosis or callosities on the soles, the plantar reflex was absent in 27%. This finding suggests that the absence of the reflex is not necessarily consequent on previous trauma to the soles in an African community. Lack of comparative data showing the pattern of the plantar reflex in different communities makes it difficult to judge whether the frequency found in this study is usual, high or relatively low.