Implementation of a smartphone as a wireless gyroscope application for the quantification of reflex response.

The patellar tendon reflex constitutes a fundamental aspect of the conventional neurological evaluation. Dysfunctional characteristics of the reflex response can augment the diagnostic acuity of a clinician for subsequent referral to more advanced medical resources. The capacity to quantify the reflex response while alleviating the growing strain on specialized medical resources is a topic of interest. The quantification of the tendon reflex response has been successfully demonstrated with considerable accuracy and consistency through using a potential energy impact pendulum attached to a reflex hammer for evoking the tendon reflex with a smartphone, such as an iPhone, application representing a wireless accelerometer platform to quantify reflex response. Another sensor integrated into the smartphone, such as an iPhone, is the gyroscope, which measures rate of angular rotation. A smartphone application enables wireless transmission through Internet connectivity of the gyroscope signal recording of the reflex response as an email attachment. The smartphone wireless gyroscope application demonstrates considerable accuracy and consistency for the quantification of the tendon reflex response.