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Document Title: Tsuda-AJSM-Jan01
Article Title: Direct evidence of the anterior cruciate
ligament-hamstring reflex arc in humans
Author: Eiichi Tsuda, Yoshihisa Okamura, Hironori Otsuka, Takashi Komatsu, Satoshi Tokuya.
Publication: The American Journal of Sports Medicine
ISSN: 03635465
Date: January-February 2001
(Figures included. Reference-denoting numbers appear in the same point size as document text.)
Volume: 29
Issue: 1
Pages: 83-87
Key Words: Knee, ligaments, sports medicine, biomechanics, reflexes, neuromuscular, motor, ACL
ABSTRACT
It has been emphasized that the anterior cruciate ligament plays an important role in the proprioceptive feedback system. The anterior cruciate ligament-hamstring reflex has been revealed in animal experiments, but it has not been established in humans. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate direct evidence of the anterior cruciate ligament-hamstring reflex arc. Nine knees in nine healthy subjects were investigated. The anterior cruciate ligament was stimulated by the use of wire electrodes inserted using an arthroscopic technique. Electromyographic signals from the biceps femoris and the semitendinosus muscles were recorded with surface electrodes. The change in electromyographic activity was analyzed after electrical stimulation in the normal knee condition, and again after intraarticular sensation had been interrupted with a local anesthetic. After electrical stimulation, subjects demonstrated increased electromyographic activity of the hamstring muscles in the normal knee condition. This response indicates the existence of an anterior cruciate ligament-hamstring reflex arc. Conversely, there was no change in activity for the hamstring muscle in the anesthetized knee because the afferent impulse from the neural elements of the anterior cruciate ligament had been removed.
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