The proportion of patients with a poor view of the oropharynx was significantly higher in the gag reflex present group than the gag reflex absent group (81.8% vs. 53.8%, P < 0.001).
The mean onset latency of the hamstring reflex laboratory group (61.7 ± 17.4 ms) and the sub-set of the camera group (58.7 ± 18.9 ms) were not statisticly different (p = 0.472).
Moreover, though not significant, there were more males (58.2% vs. 44.8%), educated (54.5% vs. 39.3%) and smokers (36.4% vs. 24.1%) in the gag reflex present group.
An increased facilitation of quadriceps reflex activity by group I non-monosynaptic and group II afferents from the common peroneal nerve has been observed in the paretic leg and this change was not correlated with the spasticity level measured with the Ashworth scale [21], [22].
After 24 hours of therapy, statistically significant differences of clinical scores were only found for posture/ability to stand between treatment groups I and IV (p = 0.003) and for the palpebral reflex between treatment group II and III (p < 0.001) and II and V (p = 0.001), respectively.
Perrotta and coworkers explored the spinal cord pain processing by studying threshold, area and temporal summation threshold (TST) of the lower limb nociceptive withdrawal reflex in a group of 31 MOH patients before and after acute drug withdrawal.
A double-blind crossover design was used to investigate the effects of anodal direct current (2 mA, 15 min) applied on the skin overlying the thoracic spinal cord on the lower-limb flexion reflex in a group of 11 healthy volunteers.
Moreover, in a literature review, Schomburg [ 20] has reported that thermal stimulation below the nociceptive threshold failed to elicit synaptic effects in α-motoneurons or facilitatory effects onto reflex pathways from group Ib or II muscle afferents or mechanoreceptive cutaneous afferents.
Although small, the reflexes in this group were seen as the gold standard against which the remainder of the tests were compared (30 ± 12%% before anaesthesia and 29 ± 11 % after anaesthesia, or 42 ± 3 % with direct traction on the ACL).
This reminds of the collective behavior of swarms of birds, fishes, or ants that, through a few simple reflexes, achieve coherent group behavior: the emergence.
