Primitive Reflexes
What are they, and why do we all share these innate developmental movement patterns?
Primitive reflexes have survival, protective, restorative, and postural purposes during development.
These reflexes develop in utero and become integrated after birth - this is what makes them “primitive”. During this period of life our nervous systems are developing at a rapid rate. Our systems use the proprioceptive, vestibular, tactile, visual, and kinesthetic input provided by these innate movement patterns to develop and mature the brain, from the brainstem up to the neocortex.
If we were not born with innate, reflexive movement patterns, we would lack the ability to initiate movement and engage with our environment using a variety of senses. In this way, primitive reflexes are essential for our cognitive, emotional, visual, sensory, and motor development.
Observe this representation of dendrite growth throughout the first two years of life. During this time, infants are learning to roll, sit, crawl, walk, talk, and socially engage.
Motor development and motor learning in the first years of life is not only linked to cognitive, social, and emotional development, but it helps facilitate that development.
“If you do not struggle on the floor in the first years of life, you will struggle through life.”
Why do we have active reflexes past our infancy?
Some reflexes never integrate. Others become reactivated later in life through chronic stress, trauma, or injuries. Either way, we can use the same innate, developmental movements to integrate (or re-integrate) them.
Common contributing factors to unintegrated primitive reflexes include maternal stress in the womb, birth trauma, birth injury, C-section birth, restricted movement during first years of life, screen use in first years of life, and environmental stressors present in the first years of life.
As innate as primitive reflexes are, so are the movements we use to integrate them.
Primitive reflexes and the movements that integrate them hold the key to brain maturation, emotional development, and physical maturation. BRMT allows us to access these innate neural pathways to achieve our goals. And the best part? The movements can be adapted to any person and any body.
Symptoms of active reflexes
We’ve listed the most common symptoms of these reflexes - note that they can be found in both children and adults.
Fear Paralysis Reflex
Anxiety
Fears
Low tolerance to stress
Frequent tantrums
A sense of being frozen or feeling stuck
Social isolation
Extreme shyness
Fear/ avoidance of new situations or experiences
Perfectionism
Helplessness
Depression
Hypersensitivity to one or several of the senses - especially touch, sound, and light
Sleeping disorders
Eating disorders
Panic attacks
Social phobias
Oppositional behavior
Aggressive behavior
Difficulty making or maintaining eye contact, or intense staring without blinking
Babinski and Plantar Reflexes
Toe walking
Sensitivity to shoes/ socks
Sensitive feet - may prefer to be barefoot or be averse to going barefoot
Problems with balance and stability
Challenges running or aversion to walking
Flat feet
High arches
Loose ankles that easily sprain
Tension in legs, ankles, hips, or feet
Awkward gait
More common in adults:
Foot pain
Knee pain
Rotated Pelvis
May cause osteoarthritis of hip joint (when combined with retained ATNR)
High or low foot arches
Weak ankles
Stiffness/ tightness in ankles
Spinal Galant Reflex
Preference for loose clothing, dislike of belts or pants with tags in the back
Scoliosis
Bedwetting past the age of 5
Extreme ticklishness
Attention difficulty; poor concentration & short-term memory; overall fatigue
May prefer to do homework or watch TV lying on the floor
Difficulty getting in touch with feelings
Restlessness when sitting or being held
Tightness in the lower back and/ or hips
Lower back pain
Rotated pelvis
Spastic colitis
Incontinence
More common in adults:
Pain and/ or tension in the lower back
Hip pain
Tightness in the hips
Rotated pelvis
Spastic colitis
Repression of emotions
Moro Reflex
Anxiety
Fears
Poor adaptability and resilience
Resistance to change
Sensory sensitivities (light/ visual, sound, touch, and smell)
Easily overwhelmed
Attention difficulties
Motion sickness
Poor balance and coordination
Emotional outbursts/ difficulty regulating emotions
Difficulty sleeping or settling down to sleep
Poor stamina - may cycle between hyperactivity and fatigue
Weakened immune system
STNR - Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex
Difficulty reading
Vision problems
“W” sitting
Upper extremity weakness
Poor posture, difficulty sitting upright in a chair - tendency to slump
Attention and focus difficulty – trouble staying on task, squirming or fidgeting
Difficulty separating the upper and lower body (can be seen by a difficulty learning to swim, especially breaststroke)
Slowness with copying tasks
Poor eye-hand coordination
More common in adults:
Thoracic kyphosis
Neck tension or pain
Back tension or pain
Vision challenges
Reading difficulty
Weak upper extremities
Poor posture
Poor coordination
Grasp and Hands Pulling Reflexes
Weak hands
Poor fine motor skills/ fine motor coordination
Poor handwriting
Poor or unusual pencil grip; refusal to write
Poor speech, articulation, and communication skills
Difficulty grasping and releasing objects
Challenges with speech and articulation; speech delay
Difficulty expressing ideas orally or in writing
Hypersensitivity to touch on the palms and face
Stuttering
Jaw tension, grinding or clenching teeth
Tension in the hands and forearms
Inability to latch during breastfeeding
Oral fixation
Involuntary movements of the mouth and tongue when writing, playing an instrument or when using scissors, etc.
Arm waving or flapping
More common in adults:
Tennis or golf elbow
Jaw tension
Poor handwriting
Poor fine motor skills
ATNR - Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex
Difficulty reading (including dyslexia)
Difficulty with spelling, grammar, and math
Clumsiness, poor coordination
Vision problems (no binocular vision, inability to track, poor “pursuit” eye movements, etc.)
Visual perceptual difficulties (especially left-right reversals)
Leans to one side when writing at a desk
Poor handwriting and poor expression of ideas through writing
Inability to cross midline
Poor balance
Neck pain or tension
Asymmetry in the body (including scoliosis)
Rotated pelvis
Attention difficulties
Poor fine motor skills
More common in adults:
Neck pain or tension
Back pain or tension
Knee pain
Asymmetry in the body
Scoliosis
Rotated pelvis
Vision challenges
Clumsiness, poor coordination
TLR - Tonic Labyrinth Neck Reflex
Sensory processing challenges
Auditory processing challenges
Poor balance
Poor spatial awareness
Poor visual-perceptual skills
Difficulty sequencing
Attention difficulties
Vestibular sensitivity
Motion sickness
Fear of heights
Difficulty judging space, distance, and depth and speed
Poor motor coordination
Weak neck muscles, neck tension, and/or neck pain
Poor posture
Hypertonia or hypotonia (depending on which direction remains active)
Weak eye muscles, tendency to be cross-eyed, poor control of eye movements
Skipping words or line of print when reading
Letter or number reversals
Toe walking (especially if Fear Paralysis Reflex is active along with the TLR)
Reflexes present differently in different people, and each person may experience a different combination of symptoms.
Keep in mind that there is a complex interplay between the reflexes themselves - for example, the TLR will not integrate if the Fear Paralysis has not integrated first. A comprehensive assessment is recommended to determine which reflexes remain active, and which are the priority for integration.