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Extensor plantar response

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

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The Babinski response is extension of the toe at the MTP joint on eliciting the plantar reflex.

It generally indicates an upper motor neurone lesion. However, a Babinski response may also be present after a grand mal seizure, or in a patient in a deep coma.

Notes:

  • the extensor plantar response is the normal response in the immature nervous system until 6 months of age (in term infants) at which point the persistence or appearance of an extensor plantar response becomes a Babinski response (1)

Reference:

  1. Gingold MK et al. The rise and fall of the plantar response in infancy. J Pediatr 1998;133:568–570.
  2. Talley N and O'Connor S, 'Clinical Examination', 2nd ed., (1992), Blackwell Scientific Publication.

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