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8. Stroking the anterior surface of the ankle (Crafts, 1919).<br />
9. Stroking the lateral dorsum of the foot (Roch and Crouzon, 1928).<br />
This site is a few centimetres more distal than in Chaddock's manoeuvre,<br />
and it should be stimulated with the thumb.<br />
10. Forceful abduction of the little toe (Stransky, 1933).<br />
11. Forceful downward movement of (preferably) the fourth toe (Grigorescu,<br />
1940 - 'a new pyramidal sign'; Gonda, 1942 - 'a new tendon<br />
stretch reflex'). Allen (1945) advocated this variant in New Zealand. It<br />
is clear that this is not a stretch reflex at all, at least in the accepted<br />
sense; for further comments see or. 4. Szapiro (1960) recommended<br />
plantar flexion of the small toes as an additional procedure to<br />
stimulation of the plantar surface.<br />
12. Stroking of the sole at the base of the toes (Lenggenhager, 1945 -<br />
'Fussballen-Streichreflex'). This method is indeed very effective, even<br />
in normal subjects (Verger and Abadie, 1900; Dosu~kov, 1932).<br />
13. Pressure on the occiput, where the lambdoid suture meets the temporal<br />
bone (Griinfelder, 1931- 'Griinfelderscher Zehenreflex'). The upgoing<br />
roe was taken here to indicate not a pyramidal lesion but the presence<br />
of otitis media in children.<br />
Considering the common physiological denominator of all these different<br />
methods, there is little justification for the use of eponyms.<br />
Stretch reflexes of the toe muscles<br />
Strictly speaking, pathological signs that are the result of muscle stretch<br />
are misplaced among the variants of an exteroceptive reflex. The few that<br />
follow, however, were clearly launched to surpass the Babinski sign, and<br />
their proprioceptive nature was not appreciated at the time.<br />
1. Snapping the great toe upwards (Rossolimo, 1902). An absent hallux<br />
response was considered normal, dorsiflexion occurred in general<br />
hyperreflexia, and a downward response indicated a pyramidal lesion.<br />
2. Percussion of the dorsum of the foot (Mendel, 1904 a, b; 1906 -<br />
'Fussriickenreflex'; Bechterew, 1904 - tarsophalangeal reflex). Dorsiflexion<br />
of the little toes was the normal response, plantar flexion was<br />
found only in patients with organic disease of the central nervous<br />
system.<br />
3. Percussion of the dorsal metatarsophalangeal joint of the great toe,<br />
resulting in its dorsiflexion (Throckmorton, 1911).<br />
4. Plantar flexion of the foot while the knee is bent (Moniz, 1916). This<br />
relates to one case only, where it was the only manoeuvre that<br />
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