Ein kurzer schmerzloser Hieb unter die Kniescheibe, gefolgt von einem kurzen Schreck
– und schon schnellt ruckartig der Unterschenkel nach vorne. Und das ganz von allein.
Diese Szene kennen wir, und schnell kommen Bilder neurologischer Untersuchungen oder
auch von Spielen aus Kindheitstagen in den Sinn. Der Patellarsehnenreflex ist uns
heute gut bekannt. Doch vor 150 Jahren beschäftigte dieses Phänomen ganz unvermittelt
die westliche nervenärztliche Fachwelt außerordentlich.
Abstract
In 1875, two German neurologists simultaneously described a previously unknown phenomenon
in the same medical journal: Carl Westphal (1833–1890) referred to it as the “phenomenon
of the lower leg”, while Wilhelm Erb (1840–1921) called it the “patellar tendon reflex”.
This novel observation quickly attracted significant attention from the international
medical community. Yet many questions remained unanswered: Was this truly a reflex
transmitted via the tendons? Nothing comparable had been described before. Where in
the spinal cord could its neural circuitry be localized? And how might this phenomenon
be clinically useful?
Further complicating its classification was the observation that the reflex could
occur in both patients and healthy individuals – but inconsistently, and at times
not at all.
Moreover, critical voices from neighboring France repeatedly claimed that Erb and
Westphal had merely repackaged previously known findings as their own.
Drawing on extensive research of 19th-century medical literature, this account traces the initial descriptions of the reflex,
the subsequent scientific investigations, and its eventual incorporation into clinical
neurological practice.
Schlüsselwörter
Nervenheilkunde - Medizingeschichte - Patellarsehnenreflex - Wilhelm Erb - Carl Westphal
Keywords
Neurology - history of medicine - patellar tendon reflex - Wilhelm Erb - Carl Westphal
