Definition
The contraction of one set of muscles initiates relaxation of the antagonistic muscles
One of the important roles of reciprocal inhibition is to overcome and inactivate the myotatic reflex, which would make voluntary agonistic muscle actions difficult if it was not supressed
Clinical understanding
A muscle stuck in a spasms can create a reflex inhibition in the antagonist muscle
Remedy of the spasms in the agonist will create a possibility of spontaneous strengthening of the antagonist