How to Check Biceps Reflex

A healthy muscular reflex occurs when certain areas of a muscle are stimulated and cause an involuntary contraction of the muscle. Doctors use this test to check the integrity of the spinal cord, determine the precise area of a spinal cord injury and test for neurological diseases. It is not unusual for a doctor to perform a reflex test during a standard checkup. A biceps reflex test is part of the standard list of reflex tests that doctors often perform.

Things You'll Need

• Reflex hammer

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Instructions

• 1

  Sit in a chair and expose your biceps by rolling up your sleeve so you may observe the muscle's reaction to the stimuli.

• 2

  Bend and relax the arm to find the biceps tendon in the front of your upper arm near the elbow. It looks like a thick cord that moves as the arm bends.

• 3

  Rest your arm on your leg, with the arm bent more than 90 degrees, and completely relax the muscles in the arm.

• 4

  Ask someone you know to place his index and middle fingers on the biceps tendon. This is to keep the hammer's force from dispelling to other areas along the arm. Have him use a reflex hammer to strike his fingers that are over the biceps tendon.

• 5

  Watch the biceps' response. The normal reflex is for the biceps to contract and force the forearm to go up.