H-reflex changes following spinal cord injury.

Changes in both central synaptic excitability (CSE) and peripheral sensitivity of muscle spindle stretch receptors have been hypothesized to contribute to hyperactive stretch reflexes of spasticity. To assess CSE, the monosynaptic H-reflex to the triceps surae muscles was tested serially over the first six months after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Six clinically complete SCI patients were compared to age-matched control subjects. As a measure of H-reflex excitability, H/M ratios were calculated by dividing maximum H-reflex by maximum M-response amplitude. Analysis of variance over the testing trials showed significant change in H/M ratios for SCI patients (p less than 0.01). T-tests comparing mean H/M ratios at different time periods after SCI revealed a significant increment after three months (p less than 0.01). H-reflex amplitude also increased significantly over this time period (p less than 0.04), but M-response amplitude did not change significantly. These increases in H/M ratio and H-reflex amplitude suggest that an increase in CSE may contribute to the appearance of hyperreflexia after SCI.