Retained Primitive Reflexes: What Every Parent Should Know
As parents, we're taught to watch for milestones.
Did they roll over?
Did they crawl?
Did they walk on time?
While those milestones are important, they only tell part of the story.
What often goes unseen is the neurological foundation that makes those milestones possible.
At Precision Chiropractic, one of the most important parts of our neurological examination is evaluating primitive reflexes. Many parents have never heard of them, yet these early movement patterns can provide incredible insight into how a child's nervous system is developing, adapting, and communicating.
Understanding primitive reflexes can help explain why a child may be struggling—not because something is "wrong," but because their nervous system may still be relying on patterns that should have matured long ago.
What Are Primitive Reflexes?
Primitive reflexes are automatic movement patterns that develop before birth and during infancy.
They aren't learned. They're built into the nervous system and serve an important purpose during early development. These reflexes help babies survive, move through developmental stages, and build the neurological foundation for future learning, balance, coordination, posture, emotional regulation, and sensory processing.
As the brain matures, these reflexes should naturally become integrated. Integration means the nervous system has developed enough that the reflex is no longer needed, allowing higher brain centers to take over.
Think of primitive reflexes like training wheels on a bicycle.
They're essential in the beginning—but eventually, they should come off.
When they don't, they can begin interfering with the way the nervous system processes information and responds to the world.
If you've read our blog about Developmental Milestones, you know we believe development is about much more than reaching milestones on time. Every stage of movement helps build the next, creating the foundation for lifelong neurological health.
What Happens When Primitive Reflexes Don't Integrate?
Sometimes primitive reflexes remain active beyond the age they were designed for.
This is called a retained primitive reflex.
A retained reflex doesn't automatically mean a child has a diagnosis or developmental disorder. Instead, it tells us the nervous system may still be relying on an early survival pattern rather than a more mature neurological pathway.
When that happens, the brain often has to work much harder to perform everyday tasks that should happen automatically.
Children are incredibly adaptable, so they often compensate well. Parents usually don't notice the reflex itself—they notice the behaviors.
You might notice:
Constant fidgeting
Difficulty sitting still
Poor balance or coordination
Toe walking
Motion sickness
Difficulty crossing the midline
Poor handwriting
Slouching while sitting
Sensory sensitivities
Emotional outbursts
Anxiety
Difficulty focusing
Reading challenges
Frequent falls or clumsiness
Delays in motor skills
None of these signs automatically point to retained primitive reflexes. However, they can indicate that the nervous system isn't processing information as efficiently as it could.
This is one reason we frequently evaluate primitive reflexes in children experiencing challenges related to attention, sensory processing, emotional regulation, learning, or development. While reflexes are rarely the whole story, they can be an important piece of the neurological puzzle.
Why Primitive Reflexes Matter
The nervous system develops in a sequence.
Rolling prepares the body for crawling.
Crawling prepares the brain for walking.
Walking prepares the body for running, jumping, balancing, and learning.
Each stage builds upon the one before it.
When a primitive reflex remains active, it can interrupt that developmental sequence. The body often finds another way to accomplish the task, but compensation isn't the same as healthy neurological development.
That's why we don't simply ask whether a child reached a milestone.
We ask how they reached it.
Did they skip crawling?
Did they army crawl?
Did they spend most of their time scooting?
Did they constantly sit in a "W" position?
Those details tell us much more about how the nervous system developed than simply asking what age they started walking.
The Primitive Reflexes We Check
As part of our neurological examination, we evaluate several primitive reflexes because each one supports different aspects of development.
Moro Reflex
Often called the "startle reflex," the Moro Reflex helps newborns respond to sudden changes in their environment.
If retained, children may appear anxious, easily startled, emotionally reactive, or overly sensitive to sounds, lights, and touch.
ATNR (Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex)
This reflex helps babies begin developing hand-eye coordination and prepares them for rolling.
When retained, it may contribute to difficulty crossing the midline, handwriting challenges, poor coordination, and reading difficulties.
STNR (Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex)
The STNR helps babies transition into crawling.
When retained, children may struggle with posture, sitting still, crawling patterns, or coordinating movements between the upper and lower body.
TLR (Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex)
This reflex supports posture, muscle tone, balance, and spatial awareness.
Retention may contribute to poor posture, balance challenges, motion sickness, or feeling uncomfortable with movement.
Spinal Galant Reflex
This reflex assists during birth and supports early hip development.
When retained, it may be associated with constant movement, sensitivity around the waistband, difficulty remaining seated, or bedwetting beyond typical developmental ages.
Palmar Grasp Reflex
This reflex helps infants develop early grasping skills.
If retained, fine motor activities like handwriting, using scissors, buttoning clothes, or manipulating small objects may become more difficult.
Rooting Reflex
The Rooting Reflex helps babies locate food for feeding.
When retained, it can sometimes contribute to oral sensitivities, picky eating, speech challenges, or oral motor coordination difficulties.
Why We Include Reflex Testing in Our Examination
Many healthcare providers focus primarily on symptoms.
We prefer to understand what's happening underneath those symptoms.
Whether a child is struggling with focus, emotional regulation, coordination, learning, or sensory processing, our goal is to better understand why their nervous system may be having difficulty adapting.
Primitive reflexes are just one part of that picture.
Along with evaluating reflexes, we also assess for Neuro-Tonal Shifts—areas where abnormal tension within the nervous system may interfere with communication between the brain and body. Together, these findings help us better understand how your child's nervous system is functioning rather than simply labeling symptoms.
This approach is why we believe it's important to look deeper than a diagnosis and understand the individual child sitting in front of us.
How Neuro-Tonal Chiropractic Care Fits In
At Precision Chiropractic, our goal isn't simply to help children reach milestones or reduce symptoms.
Our goal is to help the nervous system communicate, regulate, and adapt more efficiently.
Through gentle Neuro-Tonal Chiropractic Care, we work to reduce stress on the nervous system so communication between the brain and body can improve. A more regulated nervous system is often better equipped to adapt to everyday stress, support healthy movement patterns, and build the neurological foundation for future growth and development.
Our approach is different from traditional chiropractic care because we focus on nervous system function first. Rather than simply chasing symptoms, we work to understand what may be interfering with healthy neurological communication.
When appropriate, we also prescribe individualized home exercises designed to encourage more mature movement patterns and reinforce neurological development between visits.
Every child is unique, and every care plan is designed specifically for their needs.
Looking Beyond the Symptoms
A child who can't sit still isn't always simply "hyper."
A child who struggles with handwriting isn't always just "behind."
A child who melts down over small frustrations isn't choosing to be difficult.
Sometimes their nervous system is working much harder than it should.
That's why one of the questions we continually ask ourselves is:
"Does this child's nervous system have all the tools it needs to navigate its environment effectively?"
Primitive reflexes help us answer part of that question.
Just like we discuss in our blogs about Neuro-Tonal Shifts and Secondary Conditions, symptoms are often the body's way of communicating that something deeper may be happening within the nervous system. Rather than simply chasing those symptoms, we work to understand the neurological patterns that may be contributing to them.
Every Child Deserves the Opportunity to Thrive
If you've ever wondered whether retained primitive reflexes could be contributing to your child's challenges, we'd love to help.
Our comprehensive neurological examination evaluates primitive reflexes alongside other indicators of nervous system function to better understand how your child is adapting, developing, and responding to the world around them.
Because every child deserves a nervous system with the tools it needs to learn, grow, regulate emotions, build confidence, and thrive.
If you're interested in learning more, we also encourage you to explore these related blogs:
How Neuro-Tonal Chiropractic Care Supports Developmental Milestones
Neuro-Tonal Chiropractic Care vs. Traditional Chiropractic Care
The more you understand how the nervous system develops, the more empowered you'll be to support your child's lifelong health.
