knee jerk reflex
By mariner68
@mariner68 (1276)
India
3 responses
@rick615 (413)
• United States
18 Jan 07
A knee jerk reflex means reacting to something without even thinking about it.
A knee jerk response is something a doctor can elicit by tapping on your patellar tendon. the tap sends a signal to your spinal cord. That signal then does not even go to your brain, but a response is generated from cells in your spinal cord and sent back to your leg and tells it to contract, giving it a 'kick". Thus, a knee jerk response.
Such a response is said of things people do without thinking about it, like - yelling at someone who cuts you off in traffic, getting mad when you get a ticket, sending troops into Iraq, blaming your child when something in the house is broken............We should think about these things before we respond.
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
17 Feb 07
This is very true and the part you mentioned about the doctor is a very good example of a knee jerk reflex when they are checking you out during a physical or if you having health issues. They will hit your knee with that little device and the knee will react to it once hit. People do many things without thinking about it first and agree that we need to be careful about what we say or do and should give more thought.
1 person likes this
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
22 Jan 07
It is when you jerk your knees in a site of a danger, that is the relex part. Your knees know when to get away from something that is going to hurt them.
