Experimental Evaluation of the Hypothesis of Ligamento‐muscular Protective Reflexes

STESER, B. Experimental evaluation of the hypothesis of ligamento‐muscular protective reflexes. I. A method for adequate stimulation of tension receptors in the medial collateral ligament of the knee joint of the cat, and studies of the innervation of the ligament. A method is described for effecting a large increase in the ligament's tension. The ligament is loaded in situ transversely to the line of the leg. The slight dissection required by the method involves no appreciable damage to afferent nerve fibres of the ligament. A study was made of the effect of loading the ligament on the impulse flow in the medial and posterior articular nerves. The course of the branches of these two nerves in relation to different parts of the ligament was investigated by probing with auditive registration of the impulse response and by anatomical dissection.