Podcast #5
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[00:00:00] In the last podcast, podcast number four, we discussed how the brain and the nervous system is built in layers, and that each layer of the brain lays a foundation for the next layer to be built in a strong, efficient, stable way. We talked a little bit about primitive reflexes, what they are, what the purpose of primitive reflexes is, and the fact that.
Primitive reflexes are foundational to building a healthy brain and nervous system. Primitive reflexes have to develop properly in order for our muscle tone, to develop properly, for our alignment of our spine, to be correct for each side of the body, to communicate and to work in conjunction with the other side for our sensory system to develop appropriately for our balance and our eye movements to develop as they should, [00:01:00] and for our motor planning and our cognitive skills.
These reflexes need to have developed properly and then been integrated properly in order for the brain and the nervous system to mature in the way that it should. So to just cover a bit about what the primitive reflexes are, if you didn't catch the last episode, the primitive reflexes are just what they say.
They're reflexive, non-voluntary movements. There's a set of reflexes. Some of them develop in utero and are present at birth, and those assist the baby in things like being able to move through the birth canal during the birth process and being able to turn their heads and have a strong enough sucking reflex that they're able to breastfeed properly and efficiently from minutes after being born, and other primitive reflexes are not present at birth.[00:02:00]
But they develop during different times in the first 12 months of life to assist babies in different stages of brain development that allow them to facilitate motor patterns that. Lay the foundation for developing pathways in their brain that help with building a healthy brain and a healthy nervous system.
And this is everything from developing vestibular function, which is one of our sensory systems that helps us with balance and spatial orientation. It's fundamental to how the human body functions. Developing healthy eye movements that help us develop pathways for future more complex motor patterns that develop after we start walking.
And through the early parts of childhood. Primitive reflexes come from the brainstem area of the brain, and this is the only part of the brain that is fully developed at birth. The brainstem attaches to the spinal cord and it [00:03:00] controls autonomic function, which is all of our vital functions, like breathing, like heart rate, uh, elimination, sleeping, and waking, some of the basic movements of the head and neck.
We talked in the last episode about how. During the first year of life, the primitive reflexes should be integrated and no longer present if the brain and nervous system are developing and maturing in the way that they should. But what does this mean exactly? As we grow and mature, the higher parts of the brain develop more and begin to inhibit or regulate or control.
The areas in the brainstem in a more mature way that allows these higher areas of the brain to begin to inhibit the primitive reflexes. So they actually never go away, but they're inhibited by the higher, more developed parts of the brain, showing us [00:04:00] that the brain and the nervous system are maturing and allowing for higher, more complex function to develop.
So how do you know that the higher areas of the brain are developing and maturing and able to regulate these more primitive areas of the brainstem? Well, you can see it in checking that the primitive reflexes are seeming to. Disappear at the time when they should be disappearing and that the next primitive reflexes that should be present, depending on your baby's age, are present and seeing that the baby is able to perform more complex motor patterns depending on their age.
As babies get to 12 months, you should start to see full inhibition or full integration of all of the primitive reflexes. And you'll also see better regulation of the autonomic function of the [00:05:00] brainstem. That means you should see a lower heart rate, a lower breathing rate, um, better, more mature digestion.
So. The question is, why would these reflexes fail to be developed or fail to be inhibited in the first place? What factors can get in the way of these reflexes developing like they should and being inhibited like they should? Both lack of development and lack of inhibition or retained reflexes beyond the time that they should be there is because the child's brain is not strong enough to develop or to inhibit the reflex.
So why would this happen? It could be because the child did not develop their movement appropriately from the beginning, and they were not able to facilitate the development of the reflex to begin with, or the integration that [00:06:00] comes with development and having done that movement pattern enough to the point that the next level of motor development becomes possible.
I see a lot of this in my office and the reasons for it can be many. The birth process in itself is very often, uh, one of the most difficult, some may say, traumatic experiences any of us go through, and that's even when it all goes according to plan. I have so many newborns and babies who come to see me with limitations or restrictions in their movement that have been there basically since birth, and often have to do with either a tough birth, maybe the baby was in a breach position or laying transitionally, which means horizontally before birth, causing a lot of strain on the baby's spine.
. Chiropractors call these areas of decreased function or movement within the spine subluxations that just [00:07:00] describes a lack of healthy movement pattern between the vertebra and the spine, the muscles that attach to that area, and the nerves that innervate those muscles, and the neurological feedback from that area that goes up the spinal cord into the sensory areas of the brain.
A lot of times parents will come in with babies who. Always have their heads turned to one side, or they prefer to have their heads mostly to one side. These babies will often have breastfeeding issues when they are feeding on the side where they have to turn their head the opposite way from the way that they're typically turned.
It can be because it causes them pain or discomfort, or because of the lack of proper healthy movement in the spine that affects how the baby's. Sucking reflex or the strength of the muscles in their mouth and their throat are able to function when they're turning their heads that way During breastfeeding, after a period of time, it can lead to an imbalance in the [00:08:00] head or a flattening of the head called plagiocephaly because.
The baby isn't able to change positions while laying on their backs, so they're constantly laying on their back with their head turned to one side. And these babies will pretty much always have motor delays that start at anywhere between three to five months when they start rolling from their backs to their stomachs.
And they usually have a really hard time rolling to the opposite side of where their head has been primarily turned for all those months. And this is just one example, but it's something that I see very, very frequently. The sensory input that these healthy movement patterns send up to our brains are what allow our brain to develop and grow and mature.
So if you're only getting sensory muscle feedback from one side of the spine, or you're getting a lot more movement feedback from one side of the body because the arm and the leg on that side, for example, are moving more and developing more strength than the other. [00:09:00] That's sending an imbalanced sensory input to the developing brain.
It could also be a case where there's a baby or a child who has an inflammatory situation happening in the brain. It could be that they're eating something that they have an allergy to or an intolerance to. It could be a reaction from something chemical that they are in contact with or reaction to a mold toxin or something like that.
We've seen. More studies in the last years looking at the instance of things like, for example, acetaminophen use during pregnancy and the instance of neurodevelopmental disorders. And I hope that more studies in the future will give us even more clarity as to how these medications can be affecting the development of the baby's brain.
I think it's really important to have a critical eye when it comes to medications taking during pregnancy, because. We don't know as much as we should about how these drugs affect development. It could [00:10:00] also be something like a case of a child being anemic or having an obstruction to their breathing, so you know the brain isn't getting enough oxygen to be able to function properly.
And sometimes there are also cases of babies being born with really low muscle tone from birth, these babies. Are often given a diagnosis called floppy baby syndrome, which is not a term that I love because it tells you nothing about the cause of the low muscle tone, but it can be seen a lot in premature babies and in cases of exposure to toxins or poisons, uh, cases where there's cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury, and sometimes in genetic conditions like Down syndrome.
Kids with developmental delays, always, um, at least in my own clinical experience and the clinical experience of the majority of the doctors I know who were checking these reflexes have retained primitive reflexes. So checking for these reflexes to be present when [00:11:00] they should and not present when they shouldn't is really important.
The really good news about retained primitive reflexes is that in the majority of all cases, these reflexes can be rehabilitated and integrated if you are able to address the underlying issues and the brain can start to work better. You know, in the example of a kid who's anemic, let's say, and isn't getting enough oxygen to their brain, if you can.
Give the child some iron and help them to better oxygenate the brain. A lot of times you'll see a huge jump in the brain's own ability to better regulate itself. In the case of a baby who isn't able to move properly due to a subluxation of the upper cervical area of the spine, let's say. That allows them to turn their head in both directions Equally, if you can correct that subluxation and allow for more proper movement of the joint, that allows the muscles to send sensory input through the nerves to the brain [00:12:00] and can often make a huge impact on what the brain is then able to facilitate on its own zone.
And if you're still seeing primitive reflexes after a child is about 12 months old, it tells you. That their brain is not efficient enough to inhibit them. And so you need to work on helping the child stimulate their brain in a way that's been lacking , help them to acquire the resources that they need in the form of oxygen and, you know, inhibitors to the inflammation that could be present in the brain and their brain will be able to then inhibit the reflexes.
If this information about primitive reflexes is interesting to you, I have a downloadable PDF for you that contains more information about each of the reflexes, when it should be present, when it should become integrated. And more about what's typically seen in both kids and adults who have retained each of these specific reflexes.
[00:13:00] So if that is something that interests you and could be helpful to you, please see the show notes for the link to download the PDF. There is so much more to cover when it comes to primitive reflexes. They're so important as the foundation for good brain health, and I look forward to sharing more information about them in the future.
And for now, thank you for spending time with me today. I look forward to the next time, and until then, be well.
