Patellar reflex

Many animals, most significantly humans, have been seen to have the patellar reflex, including dogs, cats, horses, and other mammalian species.

[4] From there, an alpha motor neuron conducts an efferent impulse back to the quadriceps femoris muscle, triggering contraction.

Exaggerated (brisk) deep tendon reflexes such as this can be found in upper motor neuron lesions, hyperthyroidism,[6] anxiety or nervousness.

[7] Wilhelm Heinrich Erb (1840–1921) and Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal (1833–1890) simultaneously reported the patellar tendon or knee reflex in 1875.

O. O. McIntyre, in his New York Day-By-Day column in The Coshocton Tribune, October 1921, wrote: "Itinerant preacher stemming Broadway on a soap box.