Response to sudden torques about ankle in man. II. Postmyotatic reactions

1. Torques were applied to dorsiflex or plantarflex the ankle joint of normal human subjects who were instructed to react to them in various ways. Myoelectric and mechanical responses were recorded and analyzed. 2. Myoelectric responses in triceps surae or tibialis anterior with times of onset between 100 and 200 ms are conditional on the instruction to the subject and not the direction of the applied torque. These responses are termed postmyotatic responses. 3. The latency of the postmyotatic response is the same in both triceps surae and tibialis anterior. It is not dependent on the direction of the applied torque and consequently is not a "stretch reflex," but a triggered reaction. 4. When the subject is sitting relaxed and instructed to resist the applied torque, the magnitude of the postmyotatic response is highly and linearly correlated with the rate of ankle rotation produced by the disturbing torque. 5. Tonic contraction of the muscles prior to the onset of a stretching torque has only a slight effect on the magnitude of the postmyotatic response and usually reduces it. Prior tonic contraction of the antagonist also has a modest effect in reducing the response. 6. Instructing the subject to resist a torque as quickly and strongly as possible increases the magnitude of the postmyotatic response but has little effect on its linear functional relationship to the magnitude of the mechanical stimulus. 7. The postmyotatic response, although voluntary and kinesthetically triggered, is not completely equivalent to a visually triggered voluntary reaction because under experimental situations designed to measure simple reaction times and choice reaction times of the postmyotatic response, no significant difference is found between the two conditions. 8. It is suggested that the peripheral afferent pathways of the stretch reflex play a dual role in determining postmyotatic responses. First, they provide to supraspinal centers one early proprioceptive signal about limb perturbation that can trigger a previously selected mode of response. Second, they modulate that response by convergence, at the segmental level, of peripheral afferent signals with the descending command signals.