Abstract
Tendon reflex responses generated from mechanical stimulus had been studied for quantitative analysis of activity of tendon reflex, especially patellar tendon reflex responses are known to be a criterion for diagnosing the L3 or L4 radiculopathy. In this paper, we developed a digital signal processing system for analysis of the tendon reflex response. The system parameter, i.e., $\textit{sampling frequency, pre-amplification gain, input channel and filter bank}$ are selected by Using software switches. From the view points of flexibility, the system hardware is connected to an IBM PC for analyzing the tendon reflex parameters, amplitude, latency duration We applied the proposed system to the analysis of the patellar tendon reflex reponses. In the experiment, we measured latency, duration, amplitude of the reflex action potentials generated from vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and rectus femoris that compose quadriceps, and the measured data are analyzed througll the ANOVA test which has 5% significant level. As a result, we showed that the mean amplitude of reflex action potential at the vastus lateralis is larger than any other muscle and the mean latency of the reflex action potential at the rectus femoris is shorter than any other muscle.