Tag Archives: athlete

The Athlete And The Primary Reflex Systems

The athlete, especially those involved in contact sports, utilises the primary reflex systems and the reactive muscle system, and the Fight/Flight reflex mechanism the most.  The muscles then are depended upon to ensure the survival of the body and so, must be prepared at times, under any circumstance to defend the body as necessary when needed regardless of situational factors – in the dark (at night) or in the light (day light), whether the athlete’s eyes are open or closed.

Whenf there is a deficit in the reflex system from a previous injury which leads to an imbalance in the internal equilibrium, then certain compensatory functions can be found when the individual is examined. The examination, however, needs to be conducted within the parameters of the situational factors that had existed previously such as whether the athlete’s eyes were open or closed and so forth and the ‘in relation to factor’. These examinations are geared towards understanding the primary survival systems, from how they work in the “primitive environment” to the reactive ability of the systems. Once this is understood through the information gathered then one is able to predict how the reflex systems will react in most situations.

Switching Reflex Systems Integration – How Integration works!

Taken from ancient Chinese knowledge it is maintained that this is an essential part of the basic neural organisation known as the “switching reflexes”.  Noted causes for switching reflexes can be physical-structural, emotional-mental, chemical-nutritional. The most common cause, however, is a prior injury.

Basically, when there is a stress on the nervous system due to an injury or fatigue, the system can become unpredictable regardless of prior information gathered. Therefore under the usual treatment protocols a proper diagnosis would not be attained making long term treatment very difficult. In the case of a prior injury such as a sprained ankle there may have been excessive or sudden stretching or strain of the peroneus muscle causing the proprioceptors in the belly of the muscle which are involved in the muscle fibres to bunch up. After the sprain has healed the proprioceptors located in the belly of the muscles which was also damaged still emits a memory signal that there has been an injury and not to over stretch this muscle. This signal causes the central nervous system to react to this signal even though there is no longer an injury, and resulting in muscles not wanting to go into full extension.

This is a built in biological protection, for there is a memory via the proprioceptors telling the brain not to go past a certain point in extension as another injury will occur and then becoming neurologically deactivated at an inappropriate time when strength and energy is needed most. This will manifest in the individual’s posture (possible scoliosis) and also causing their balance, focus and concentration to be off. During this process as well the compensatory functions can extend beyond the time that they are actually needed and so, the persons will exhibit a limp or back problems years after having a leg or hip injury that  actually appears completely healed.

For further clarification, Dr. Robert Frost illustrated the phenomenon by stating that “switching (neurological disorganization) …the signalling within the nervous system has gotten reversed in one or more of the three dimensions. The most common type of switching is right-left switching. If we compare this to a direct current electrical system (like in a car), right-left switching is like a reversal of electrical polarity. Where you should find a positive polarity, you find negative instead.

Everyone with learning difficulties or coordination difficulties has (at least most of the time) right-left switching. The extreme of the range of learning difficulties is called dyslexia. In my experience, all dyslexics are right-left switched. Right-left switching is characterized by mental confusion and/or physical dis coordination. When you hear yourself say "26" when you meant "62", or when you point to the right and say, "turn left here", you can be sure that you have become "switched"”

Reactive Muscle System Maintenance

In order to sustain the integrity of the reactive muscle system and to prevent against occurrences such as “switching”, then the proper functioning of the gait reflex system is critical. The gait reflex is essential as it coordinates all our movements such as balancing, walking, running, standing, jumping, twisting, turning etc that are necessary for basic survival. Based in the cloacal, labyrinthine, and ocular centering/righting reflex systems, the vestibular righting reflex systems and the related tonic neck righting reflex systems which are all primitive in nature, the gait reflex is cross over system and has the ability to affect the larger reactive muscles in a negative way if it is not functioning optimally.


Childhood And Adult Onset Scoliosis

Childhood And Adult Onset Scoliosis manifests with the continuous steady and unbalanced pull of back muscles causing the bones of the Thoracic Spine to become misaligned, eventually becoming deformed and the curvature of the spine which is characteristic of this condition manifests.

Gait and the special intact reflexes plays a vital role in the functioning of the muscles of the body and so, if they were in any way compromised, then incorrect neuro signals would be sent to the muscles, resulting in the unbalanced muscles pulling on the spinal structures to which they are attached when they should not be. That is poor neurological Gait signalling to the skeletal muscles.


Strong evidence suggests that the presence of Onset Scoliosis can impact a patient in various ways. Yes, there is the obvious physical element to the illness where the person – some more than others – will have a disfigured appearance. However, more notably as published in SPINE Magazine scoliotics have a high incidence of learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Additionally, individuals with the condition will have a high incidence of migraine headaches, or feel hazy in the head which also may contribute towards the dyslexic condition. It is noted that a high left shoulder caused by scoliosis is a contributing factor to poor academic skills and that those with a high right shoulder exhibits poor social and emotional skills. Athletes with the condition are also affected as the reflex systems are not centered and so, they will have a high incidence of pulled hamstring and neck pain to the high shoulder side of the body and in most cases some form of back pain all associated to a malfunctioning Gait Reflex neurallogically.

Diagnosing and Treating Onset Scoliosis

As is now evident that Scoliosis Treatment has to go beyond the physical structure of the spine, as the condition is actually a side effect of a series of reflex mechanisms which ought to be functioning in a way to maintain balance within the body but is malfunctioning. This is clarified as NOT practitioners make the differentiation between the condition of onset scoliosis, which has nothing to do with the spine itself and the scoliotic spine which occurs as a result of unbalanced neurological gait reflexes which manifests as onset scoliosis. Thus, NOT Practitioners focuses on correcting the imbalance of the Gait Disorders reflexes first and then the reactive muscle system which is caused by the disturbed Reflex Mechanism to the reactive muscle system in treating the condition of scoliosis. This means taking a holistic approach to correct or balance all the reflex systems such as the Anterior and Posterior Cloacal, the Labyrinthine, the Ocular Cantering Righting Reflex Systems, which make up the Gait Reflex System followed by the Reactive Muscle System. Therefore, if balance is not sought, then any other methods employed to merely correct the curvature of the scoliotic spine will not be ample, if at all beneficial in correcting the condition of childhood or Early Onset Scoliosis and adult or Late-Onset Scoliosis.

Testing For Onset Scoliosis

By employing the methodology in NOT, testing for Scoliosis Causes becomes somewhat simpler. Instead of exposing young children and particularly, those in their reproductive development to bout of x-rays in diagnosing onset scoliosis, utilising measuring devices and a simple height test before and after treatment to see results should suffice. Further, a trained Kinesiologist in Neural Organization Therapy (N.O.T.) is able to look at the posture of the body and ascertain which muscles are involved and knows how to effectively deal with them. Regardless of the age of the patient or how far the condition has progressed this will alleviate the pressure on the spine, stop the progression of the curvature and pains associated with the condition and also, allowing the nervous system to function normally once the Gait Reflexes are stabilized. Once the strain or pull is removed from the spine, there will be a spontaneous straightening of the spine to some degree and so the patient will become somewhat taller.

Growing Pains sign of Onset Scoliosis

It has been reported that after a single treatment some severe cases (patients) realized a 4 inch increase in their height, and so, if done properly scoliosis can quickly be corrected and with monitoring suggested for children through the glandular development stage and the growth period, even though there is rarely a reoccurrence. Adults should be monitored if they have had some type of trauma since correction as this may affect the nervous system yet again. You have heard of children going through adolescence as having growing pains. This is rubbish! When a child is said to be having or experiencing growing pains, it actually is Onset Scoliosis Pain as well as improper gait signalling via the nervous system and needs to be corrected immediately by a competent NOT Kinesiologist.
