Recovery of stretch reflex responses following mechanical stimulation

The recovery behaviour of mechanically evoked stretch responses was investigated. Stimuli which promoted identical dorsiflexing movements around the ankle joint were applied to ten subjects in two positions, seated and upright. The experimental sets comprised single as well as double dorsiflexing displacements. In the latter the stimuli were elicited for durations of either 100, 200 or 400 ms. Stretch responses following the first displacements were related to the stretch velocity but not to the amplitude. The responses of the plantar flexors following the second mechanical dorsiflexion were reduced with respect to the delay time between the first and second displacement. In addition, the magnitudes of these responses depended on the functional task: the stretch responses recovered much faster in the standing position when the triceps surae muscle was only slightly activated, whereas in the relaxed sitting position the reflexes remained suppressed. Both reciprocal inhibition, as well as the time course of the reformation of intrafusal cross-bridge links, may help to explain the depression of the monosynaptic stretch reflex.