Wahlbaum Method

Wahlbaum Method (Wahlbaum) for inducing the knee reflex consists of the following: the patient sits with his calves bent at the knee joints at an obtuse angle, while his heels rest on the floor; the examiner's left hand is placed palm down, fingers pointing down, on the upper edge of the patient's patella; a vertical blow is delivered with the edge of the right hand (preferably clenched into a fist) to the back of the left hand, during which the displaced, due to the relaxed state of the quadriceps muscle, patella moves even further down. As a result of the stretching of the quadriceps muscle, the knee reflex occurs. The Wahlbaum method is very sensitive and can sometimes reveal the presence of a reflex where other methods do not lead to a convincing result. It can be enhanced by the Jendrassik method; see Knee reflex.