Stimulation of the thenar eminence, the palm, the thumb, or any of the individual fingers often produces contraction of the ipsilateral chin muscles. This response has been referred to under various terms such as the palmo-mental, hand-chin and the polico-mental reflex. We propose that all these reflexes should more properly be referred to as the brachio-thoracic-mental reflex, since under certain pathological conditions, stimulation, pinching or flicking of the skin of the forearm, arm chest and even abdominal wall can elicit the same response. Our impression is that this reflex occurs as a result of denervation of the cells within the facial nucleus; denervation of these cells causes them to be hypersensitive to afferent stimuli.
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