Cremaster Reflex
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
The cremaster reflex is a physiological response where the cremaster muscle contracts and pulls up the testicle when the inner thigh is stroked. It is a spinal reflex that can be absent in pathological conditions affecting the spinal cord or peripheral nerves, and normally diminishes with age.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
Cremaster reflex, or testicular reflex, is elicited by stroking, rather deeply, the skin of the inner thigh with a hammer handle from top to bottom over a large area. The patient may be lying with legs apart or standing. The reflex manifests as contraction of the m. cremasteri and pulling of the corresponding testicle upward. The reflex arc corresponds to Li-c. The reflex disappears therefore with lesions of the upper part of the lumbar region of the spinal cord or with lesions of the corresponding peripheral nerves, and also, like other skin reflexes, with high spinal and cerebral lesions damaging the pyramidal pathway. In elderly people, the C. r. disappears in normal conditions, so its absence can be evaluated as a pathological symptom only in young age. In particular, the disappearance of the cremaster reflex in young persons is one of the symptoms of developing sexual impotence.
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Cite this page
“Cremaster Reflex.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/cremaster-reflex/