[Arthur Simons on tonic neck reflexes in persons with hemiplegia. From the years 1916 to 1919]

Tonic neck reflexes described in 1921 by Magnus and deKlejn in animals and men were studied in hemiplegic patients who were mainly victims of WWI by Arthur Simons, a neurologist in Berlin and coworker of Hermann Oppenheim. The effect of the asymmetric neck reflexes after head rotation was restricted to the paralyzed side: tonus (spasms) of extension and adduction during mid-position of the head or head version to the paralyzed side; flexion tonus and abduction during head version to the non-paralyzed side; and flexion tonus (spasms) of the paralyzed limbs during flexion of the head and extension spasms by head extension. More than this, hemiplegic "Mitbewegungen" or associated reactions (Walshe) were observed. They are elicited by conscious innervations of the unaffected side, e.g. by fist closure, and are increased or varied by head rotation, the tonic neck reflexes. They occurred in 25%. A film with Arthur Simons as examiner from the years 1916-1919 shows these nearly forgotten phenomena. Their everyday significance was already stressed in 1920, long before the rules of antispastic positions were defined by Bobath.