Primitive Reflexes and Functional Neurological Assessments

Anna has a keen interest in brain development and how this affects the way we experience the world. These neurological assessments of primitive reflexes and hemispheric balance are different from chiropractic treatment. The assessments and interventions involved are used by various different health care professionals and these programmes do not fit into the Advertising Standards Authority’s description of chiropractic.

Primitive Reflexes

These are reflexes that are present at birth and help us with the first tasks of life, such as getting through the birth canal, feeding and early movements. Over time as we use our bodies, our nervous systems develop to switch these reflexes off (or integrate them).

If a primitive reflex is still present (or retained) in an older child or adult, it is a sign that the brain’s control of movement and posture has not developed appropriately. There is some evidence that children who have been diagnosed with learning disorders have more retained primitive reflexes than neurotypical children and that the presence of some primitive reflexes at 2 years old is a predictor of lower scores in development at 8 years old. When certain primitive reflexes are retained they have been associated with particular coordination, sensory or behaviour patterns. If one or more of these reflexes are present, we use exercises to integrate them.

Hemispheric Balancing

Some brain functions are wholly or mostly processed on one side (or hemisphere) of the brain. At different points in development, we tend to have dominance on one side, then the other catches up and overall balance and good communication between each side and the rest of the body should result. However, if anything disturbs this developmental process, one side can become increasingly dominant and faster in processing information than the other. This results in messy communication and affects brain output. This has been associated with coordination, social, academic and behavioural issues.