Gordon's Sign

GORDON'S SIGN, REFLEX, PHENOMENON (Gordon). G. sign is a distinctive delayed contraction of the quadriceps muscle when eliciting the knee reflex: the leg briefly freezes in an elevated position and then descends only gradually. Gordon's sign occurs in chorea. G. reflex is elicited by compression of the calf muscles and manifests with the exact same motor effect as the Babinski reflex: slow extension of the great toe and fanning out of the other toes. The Gordon reflex, like the Babinski reflex, indicates pyramidal tract damage. There are grounds to consider this reflex, as well as the Babinski reflex, as components of the general shortening reflex. G. phenomenon is characterized by extension or spreading of the fingers of the hand when pressure is applied to the radial side of the pisiform bone. It is observed in organic hemiplegias.