Rossolimo Reflex

ROSSOLIMO REFLEX (plantar reflex) is characterized by plantar flexion of the toes when the plantar surface of the foot is struck. It was described by G. I. Rossolimo in 1902. It is best examined in the lying position, with the leg slightly bent at all joints. It is elicited by a short, jerky, not too strong strike by the examiner's fingers on the plantar surface of the subject's toes. When the Rossolimo reflex is present, this results in more or less pronounced plantar flexion of the toes, sometimes accompanied by their simultaneous abduction. In the movement, either all toes may participate at once, which happens most often, or only toes II-V, or finally one big toe, which happens least often. The symptom is considered pathognomonic for organic diseases of the central nervous system accompanied by lesions of the pyramidal system. According to the latest statistics from Rossolimo in 1927, the reflex occurs in 73% of cases, ranking second in terms of constancy of appearance after the Babinski reflex. At the same time, the R. r. can be observed in many cases of pyramidal system lesions in the absence of other pathological reflexes. It appears at the end of the 1st week after the onset of the disease. Pathophysiologically, the R. r. is apparently one of the constituent parts of the spinal cord's extension reflex, which is evidenced by the better elicitation of the reflex observed in clinical practice when the leg is bent. The afferent limb of the reflex arc consists of proprioceptors of the toes, primarily apparently of the short toe flexors, from which irritation through the corresponding centers of the sacral part of the spinal cord (S_x-S_n) is transmitted to the motor fibers innervating the short toe flexors.