Sterling-Rusecko Reflex

Sterlingo-Rusetzky reflex

The reaction of the trunk to pain in one of the limbs is called “hortonin”. The author of this symptom is the Russian scientist A. N. Bazhenov. In the 80s of the 20th century and the first half of the 21st century, it was called the Wasserman-Sterling reaction, after the names of the German authors.

The first to draw attention to this phenomenon was the English neuropathologist William Sterling in 1906, then, after a while, his student O. Foerster proposed the term “laryngeal reflexes” and the general concept of reactive excitation in the spinal cord. He showed that the spinal reflex is not isolated from the precentral resonator circles, but connects the brain centers of the posterior part of the spinal cord with the vagal nuclei in the medulla oblongata. These nuclei, in turn, provide feedback to the motor neurons and brain, feeding these muscles with an intermediate substance.

Thus, the pattern of two turns of the head begins to repeat itself, and a few seconds after the impulse arrives, irritation from the muscles of the forearm spreads to the muscles of the entire body, accompanied by a facial grimace. More often you can observe the head turning in the direction opposite to the area of ​​irritation.