Neural Exam - Newborn tone - leg recoil: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:34, 8 June 2010

Newborn-normal-behaviour.jpg</wikiflv>

This 5-day-old infant is in the alert, quiet state.

The popliteal angle is an assessment of the tone of the hamstring muscles.
It is done one leg at a time.
The thigh is flexed on the abdomen with one hand and then the other hand straightens the leg by pushing on the back of the ankle until there is firm resistance to the movement.
The angle between the thigh and the leg is typically about 90 degrees.
Extension of the leg beyond 90 to 120 degrees would be seen in hypotonia.

Movie Source - Paul D. Larsen
Movies from the PediNeuroLogic Exam website are used by permission of Paul D. Larsen, M.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center and Suzanne S. Stensaas, Ph.D., University of Utah School of Medicine. Additional materials were drawn from resources provided by Alejandro Stern, Stern Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Kathleen Digre, M.D., University of Utah; and Daniel Jacobson, M.D., Marshfield Clinic, Wisconsin. The movies are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
Links: Neural Exam Movies \| Movies

Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 6) Embryology Neural Exam - Newborn tone - leg recoil. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Neural_Exam_-_Newborn_tone_-_leg_recoil

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 {| border='0px'
 |-
-| <wikiflv height="265" width="320" autoplay="false" logo="false">Newborn n 11.flv|Newborn-normal-behaviour.jpg</wikiflv>
+| <wikiflv height="265" width="320" autoplay="false" logo="false">Newborn n 12.flv|Newborn-normal-behaviour.jpg</wikiflv>
 | valign="top" |This 5-day-old infant is in the alert, quiet state.
-* To test leg recoil, the legs are fully flexed on the abdomen for a few seconds, then the legs are quickly extended and released.
+* The popliteal angle is an assessment of the tone of the hamstring muscles.
-* The legs should spring back to the flexed position.
+* It is done one leg at a time.
-* Legs that remain extended could be due to either hypotonia or abnormal extensor tone.
+* The thigh is flexed on the abdomen with one hand and then the other hand straightens the leg by pushing on the back of the ankle until there is firm resistance to the movement.
+* The angle between the thigh and the leg is typically about 90 degrees.
+* Extension of the leg beyond 90 to 120 degrees would be seen in hypotonia.
 |-
 |}