Jendrassik maneuver

Encyclopedia : J : JE : JEN : Jendrassik maneuver

Jendrassik maneuver (Erno Jendrassik, Hungarian physician, 1858–1921) is a medical maneuver wherein the patient flexes both sets of fingers into a hook-like form and interlocks those sets of fingers together. The tendon below the patient's knee is then hit with a reflex hammer. The elicited response is compared with the reflex result of the same action when the maneuver is not in use. Often a larger reflex response will be observed when the patient is occupied with the maneuver, as the maneuver may prevent the patient from consciously inhibiting or influencing his or her response to the hammer.

This maneuver is particularly useful in that even if the patient is aware that the interlocking of fingers is just a distraction in order to elicit a larger reflex response, it still functions properly.

The March 23, 2005 episode of the online comic, Dinosaur Comics revolved around the Jendrassik maneuver[link].

Weeee

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.