 Welcome to nursing school explained in this video on the assessment of the babinski reflex. So we're going to strike the bottom of the patient's foot with an instrument and best is to either use the bottom part of a reflex hammer which can be a little bit pointy so we want to be careful with that. You could theoretically use a pen also just keep in mind for infection control purposes you probably don't want to put that pen in your pocket after so be very wise with whatever instrument you choose. It has to be somewhat sturdy though because we have to exert a good amount of pressure on the patient's heel on the patient's bottom of the foot and so we want to start I'm just going to outline this from the bottom and then strike it up to the what's that the fifth toe here and then come across the ball of the foot all the way over there and we're going to observe if the toes curl at all. So I'm going to start down here and like exert a pretty good pressure and then start by running it up and across and you saw the toes here curl we're going to do this again now he's a little ticklish let's try one more time whoops okay so the toes curled on this side so now let's check the other side same thing okay and one more time good so as you saw this is actually a normal response and a negative Babinski reflex if all toes or some of them curled down or there is no response it is considered a negative Babinski. The Babinski reflex is considered positive and normal in children until the age of two years old or until they walk and the positive Babinski would be that the big toe dorsiflexes meaning it goes up dorsiflexion versus plantaflexion I remember by plantaflexion going towards the plants dorsiflexion going up so positive Babinski would be with the big toe dorsiflexing and all the other toes fanning out like that so that would be a positive Babinski reflex only normal in children up to two years old or until they walk in adults or children greater than two years old if the Babinski reflex is positive that could mean that there is either drug or alcohol intoxication or some sort of upper motor neuron disease such as a stroke ALS multiple sclerosis and also B12 deficiency can cause that thank you very much for watching this video on the assessment of the Babinski reflex always remember to check both sides and be very careful with the instrument that you choose for infection control purposes also check out the other skills videos for other reflexes and general skills thanks for watching nursing school explained see you soon