Reliability of the peroneal latency in normal ankles

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Biomechanics
• Motor Control

Background:

• Assessing neuromuscular responses to sudden limb displacement is crucial for understanding protective reflexes.
• Peroneal nerve latency is a potential indicator of the integrity and speed of reflex pathways.
• Reliability and side-to-side differences in peroneal latency are not well-established in healthy individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the intertrial reliability of peroneal latency measurements.
• To compare peroneal latency between the dominant (right) and non-dominant (left) legs in healthy subjects.
• To validate peroneal latency as a measure of polysynaptic reflex responses to inversion stress.

Main Methods:

• A dual platform trapdoor system was used to induce a 30-degree ankle inversion.
• Electromyography recorded peroneal muscle activity onset.
• An accelerometer measured trapdoor movement onset; latency was calculated algorithmically.
• Thirty-one healthy, right-leg-dominant subjects underwent 20 trials per leg.

Main Results:

• Peroneal latency was successfully measured in 99% of trials (613/620).
• High intertrial reliability was observed for both legs (ICC right = .91, left = .82).
• A statistically significant difference was found between sides, with the right (dominant) leg exhibiting longer peroneal latency.

Conclusions:

• Peroneal latency measurement demonstrates high reliability for assessing reflex responses.
• The findings suggest a potential difference in reflex response time between dominant and non-dominant legs.
• Peroneal latency is a dependable measure for evaluating the polysynaptic reflex arc during sudden inversion stress.