Righting Reflex: The Brain-Body Connection That Never Goes Away
The phrase "you must learn to crawl before you can walk" is more than just a well-known idiom, it is a neurobiological truth.
Primitive reflexes are the neurological building blocks used by the Nerve System to create the majority of the movements we make. General movements such as rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, talking and walking, rely on primitive reflexes to initiate the skill. A primitive reflex is the “spark” that fuels the development of the movement.
Once the movement is learned, the primitive reflex should assimilate itself into the motor pattern. For example, the Gallant primitive reflex helps start the motor patterns associated with crawling. It shows up around the 3rd month of life (usually before a child starts to crawl) and disappears around the 7th month (around the time the baby starts to crawl).
Primitive reflexes are like a parent who holds onto the side of your bicycle when learning to ride, letting go at the right time to watch you wobble down the street.
The majority of the primitive reflexes should integrate into the Nerve System by age one. A small minority of them integrate into the system by age two. If the primitive reflex is not completely integrated into the system, it stays in a ‘retained state.’ This can create many different health problems associated with delays in neurobiological development.
Please check out my other blog titled “Primitive Reflexes- Retain Them Not!” for more information on that topic.
In a healthy functioning two-year-old child, primitive reflexes should all be completely integrated. All except one. There is one primitive reflex that is with us our entire life. That is the Righting reflex.
The Righting reflex controls the unconscious position of the head. It's design is to help keep our brain, eyes and body in relative balance with each other. It involves communication between the vestibular, proprioception, visual, and interoception senses. That communication is always searching for or trying to maintain homeostatic balance.
Why doesn’t the Righting reflex get fully integrated? What makes the righting reflex different than other primitive reflexes?
The Righting reflex is one of the first reflexes to appear post-birth, emerging between 0-2 months of age. The majority of the other primitive reflexes don’t emerge until later in our development, usually between 3 to 6 months of age.
For the most part, once we learn how to roll over, crawl, walk, etc. we don’t need to relearn that movement. Even if it’s been 20 plus years since we crawled, we don’t have to give it a second thought to hop on the floor with our toddler and join in on the fun of exploring the world through this movement.
The primitive reflexes that help us learn these skills get integrated into the cerebellum section of the brain. This integration frees up our Nerve System to reallocate its resources to learning new motor patterns throughout our life.
The Righting reflex is different. The Righting reflex always has to be engaged. The brain and body must always be aware of its position in space.
The Righting reflex of the brain must constantly adapt itself to an ever-changing environment to maintain the balance of the body. We do this unconsciously, but not to the point where it can free up resources to learn other motor skills in its place. The Righting reflex is more than a primitive reflex, it is a fundamental reflex.
The Righting reflex is a 4-way conversation between the vestibular, proprioceptor, visual and interoceptor senses. The vestibular sense is headquartered in the inner ear. The visual sense is housed in the eye. The proprioceptor sense is found throughout the body, with the major contribution coming from the upper cervical spine. Interoception is still theoretical in its exact location, but many signs point to the brain as the main seat of this sense.
The upper cervical spine, inner ears and eyes all communicate with the brain and intercommunicate with each other to interpret their position in space. The brain responds to all these stimuli by telling the muscles of the body to position the eyes and brain in a position that is parallel to gravity.
For example, if you stand on one leg, your head will tilt up on the leg side, leveling the eyes so they are perpendicular to the ground. To create this head tilt, nerves from the brainstem will talk to the postural muscles of the spine to contract, either in flexion or extension. Whether the ground is level or graded, the body will assume a posture that allows for the greatest amount of body balance and ease to the Nerve System.
Any disruption in the sensory information that enters the brain can alter the quality of interpretation done by the brain. In Chiropractic, a major disruption we focus on is a vertebral subluxation. A vertebral subluxation happens when the brainstem can’t fully adapt to physical, chemical or emotional stress that the body comes in contact with.
A lack of normal adaptation produces abnormal compensations. A vertebral subluxation is a physical presentation of an abnormal compensation. This results in nerve tension and body imbalance in the upper cervical spine.
Often this tension and imbalance expresses as a simple head tilt. The proprioceptors of the upper cervical spine now have to overcome this abnormal compensation. A vertebral subluxation in a way “tricks” the brain into thinking the body is standing on one leg when it is actually standing on two. Even when a vertebral subluxation is present, the brain will maintain the righting reflex as best as it can.
To make the head level again it has to contract opposing postural muscles of the spine to even the visual field of the eye. This imbalance in muscle contractions doesn’t cause much of an issue in the short term, but over time these spinal imbalance create wear and tear to the spine.
A vertebral subluxation is like wearing a flip-flop on one foot and a hiking boot on the other. Now imagine going through a day like that: your morning walk with the dog, chasing down your toddler and scooping him up before he grabs the dog’s tail, rushing to work and having to take the stairs to your third-floor office, pushing your baby around in a cart as you frantically go grocery shopping. How will your spine feel at the end of the day?
This is why a vertebral subluxation of the upper cervical spine can effect the structural and functional integrity of the whole vertebral column. The spine below the Atlas and Axis must adapt or compensate to the position or malposition of the upper cervical spine.
The goal of Chiropractic is to improve the structural and functional integrity of the upper cervical spine through a specific adjustment. A spine that is correctly structured will allow for greater expression of the brain stem. The Nerve System can function with better movement, sensation, regulation and relation. This keeps the Righting reflex and other neurological operations not only right, but healthy.
Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby.
