Execution:
- The patient is in sitting or supine position
- The examiner bends the patient’s contralateral knee slightly and keeps it supported, so that the patient can completely relax
- The examiner then hits the patellar tendon above the tibial tuberosity with the reflex hammer that is held with a relaxed wrist between thumb and index finger
Positive Outcome: Hyporeflexia compared to the other side
| Study | Reliability | Sn | Sp | LR+ | LR- |
| Hancock et al. (2011): L3/L4 Disc Herniation | NA | 50 | 83 | 2.92 | 0.6 |
| Hancock et al. (2011): L4/L5 Disc Herniation | NA | 19 | 82 | 1.03 | 0.99 |
| Iversen et al. (2013) | NA | 67 | 83 | 3.96 | 0.4 |
| Comment: The Patellar Tendon Reflex has a weak association with a lumbar disc herniation at level L3/L4, possible affecting nerves L3 or L4 | |||||
