What do anxiety, neck issues and poor immune system have in common?

Hi everyone,

Here we are in February already...many of us are back into the 'usual' routine and wondering where the summer holidays evaporated to!  As we're getting back into school, study or work we are reminded of any learning difficulties, concentration issues, and even relationship dynamics that can make the school, uni or workplace challenging.  Retained primitive reflexes can play a significant role in all of these issues for both children and adults.  Yes adults!  I know we often think about primitive reflexes for children but if they are not fully integrated they will affect many aspects of adult life too - learning, behaviour and health wise including:

• Communication issues leading to relationship problems

• Poor balance

• Clumsiness

• Poor concentration

• POTS

• Poor sleep

• Low stress threshold

• Digestive issues

• Anxiety

• Fatigue

• Difficulty coping with change

• Learning difficulties

• Easily startled

• Blood sugar regulation issues

• Oversensitivity to noise, touch, smell, taste etc

• Low immune system - always catching colds, flus etc or more serious immune system issues

• Motion sickness

• Anger issues

• Poor upper body strength

• Carpal tunnel, RSI, frozen shoulder etc

• ASD, ADD, ADHD, ODD, SID

I could go on and on...and the reason I could go on and on is that the primitive reflexes not only help us survive the first 18 months of life, they lay the foundation for the nervous system.  And we all know what happens if our house has a dodgy foundation.  

What I love is that healthy babies instinctively know what movements they need to do in order to integrate the primitive reflexes - think of touching a baby's palm and them gripping your finger - that's the palmar reflex, it's involuntary (they're not holding your finger because the love you sorry) and it helps them build grip strength.  Think of a little one getting ready to crawl - they're on their hands and knees and rock forward and back - that's the STNR reflex (Symmetrical tonic neck reflex) which helps them build strength, balance and vision so they can safely navigate the world by crawling.

If the primitive reflexes don't get properly integrated by all these specific movements then the postural reflexes may not kick in properly which will affect our posture, muscle coordination and strength, mental health, eyes, balance, neck issues and again I could go on and on.  They can even link into health issues like adrenal fatigue, poor immune system and gut issues because of how hard the body is having to work to compensate for nervous system dysfunction.

I'm not saying the reflexes are the answer to everything but they are very often a contributing factor.  So what can we do about it?  Heaps!  There are many different types of practitioners who work with the primitive/postural reflexes including Kinesiologists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Occupational therapists, Speech and language therapists and more - it usually involves extra training over the foundation training so look for someone that works with them specifically.  There is usually a combination of in-clinic sessions and simple home support exercises to help integrate the reflexes. 

I recently listened to this podcast where a Homeopath is talking about the reflexes - it's a really easy listen, not really about homeopathy at all, and you can skip the preamble and start at 6:19 for the primitive reflexes info.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/homeopathy-hangout-with-eug%C3%A9nie-kr%C3%BCger/id1582931618?i=1000748816557

And of course, if you have any questions, you know where I am!

Happy integrating!

Carla :)

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