This week on Virgin Radio Chris Evans discussed how having his son’s retained reflexes treated was helping him with his learning difficulties. We are so happy to hear this talked about! Children’s primitive reflexes seem to be a big secret to most parents. Both myself, Beccy, and Laura, are both trained in treating retained reflexes. We have seen so many benefits and would love the opportunity to help more kids thrive.
Is this something you feel your child may benefit from? If you have more questions regarding treatment for children’s primitive reflexes, or retained reflexes in Reading, Berkshire then please contact us and book a complimentary spinal check.
Read on to find out more about retained reflexes.
What are children’s primitive reflexes ?
Have you ever slammed the door a bit too hard and seen your baby’s arms and legs flail outwards? That’s their Moro reflex and is an example of a primitive reflex.
Babies are born with inbuilt movement reflexes and patterns, called primitive reflexes. These reflexes develop in the womb and help the foetus to practice the movements need for survival such as, breathing, sucking and moving the neck. The primitive reflexes make the foetus move in ways to help him actively participate in the birth process when the time comes. The brain needs loads of stimulation to develop. Initially this is occurs automatically through the primitive reflexes.
A normal, healthy baby will have many of these reflexes present at birth:
- Rooting
- Sucking
- MORO (startle)
- Palmar
- Plantar
- Babinski
- Asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR)
- Symmetrical Tonic neck reflex (STNR)
- Tonic Labyrinthe Reflex
- Spinal Galant
Each reflex has a different function, some are to help the birth process as mentioned, some are to help with feeding (rooting and sucking) some are for survival (MORO ) and some are to develop movement patterns (ATNR and STNR).
What happens when this goes wrong?
Sometimes the primitive reflexes don’t integrate fully. This can happen due to disruption of the normal brain development, which may be as a result of a traumatic birth, a c-section delivery , a fall or mum’s stress during pregnancy. If the reflexes don’t integrate properly this can have long term implications for your child. This can create effect with regards to coordination, learning, behaviour and attention. However, this may not always be obvious to parents and teachers and can easily get interpreted as many of the neurobehavioural disorders such as: Dyslexia. ADD, Anxiety, Dyspraxia and many others.
A research study in Poland found in a group of school children aged 4- 6, that over 60% of those children, otherwise known has healthy, had at least one retained reflex. There is no doubt that in modern society, this is a prevalent issue and makes us wonder where there is an indication for screening within schools.
What do we do about children’s primitive reflexes?
This may sound a bit doom and gloom, however, the fantastic news is that it’s not too late to integrate those primitive reflexes that have been retained. Both Laura and I trained with a fantastic Australian chiropractor named Dr. Dorte Bladt who has created a fantastic protocol combining spinal and cranial adjustments with integration exercises in order to give the best possible chance of integrating reflexes and potentially helping with symptoms of neurobehavioral disorders. We have seen some fantastic results in the clinic including an improvement with regards to bed-wetting, concentration in school and co-ordination in sports. It would be using similar gentle protocols as this that Chris Evans son was being treated to clear these primitive, or retained reflexes.
Is this something you feel your child may benefit from? If you have more questions regarding treatment for children’s primitive reflexes, or retained reflexes in Reading, Berkshire then please contact us and book a complimentary spinal check on: 01189462100
Beccy Norman, Chiropractor at Reflex Spinal Health
References:
Dr. Dorte Bladt. (2016). Primitive Reflexes . In: Switched on Kids . Australia : Printcraft. 24-25 .
Gieysztor, E.Z., Choińska, A.M. and Paprocka-Borowicz, M., 2018. Persistence of primitive reflexes and associated motor problems in healthy preschool children. Archives of medical science: AMS, 14(1), p.167.
Taylor, M., Houghton, S. and Chapman, E., 2004. Primitive Reflexes and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Developmental Origins of Classroom Dysfunction. International Journal of Special Education, 19(1), pp.23-37.
