The Experience Miracles Podcast

Q&A: Retained Primitive Reflexes… Overlooked or Overhyped?

Oct 11, 2024

Retained Primitive Reflexes in Children: Why They’re a Symptom, Not the Root Cause

Episode 1 — Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP — Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: October 11, 2024 | Duration: ~34 min

Key Takeaways

  • Retained primitive reflexes are widely blamed as a root cause of autism, ADHD, and sensory challenges — but according to Dr. Tony Ebel’s 17 years of clinical experience, they are a secondary or tertiary symptom of deeper nervous system dysregulation.
  • The real root cause is subluxation and sympathetic dominance — a state where the central autonomic nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight mode, which causes reflexes to be retained in the first place.
  • In approximately 98% of cases, when a child’s sympathetic dominance is resolved through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, retained primitive reflexes resolve on their own without direct intervention.
  • Children typically require 90 to 180 days of neurologically-focused chiropractic adjustments to reach neurological stability — the point at which their nervous system has the resilience to benefit from other therapies like PT, OT, and speech.
  • Attempting to treat retained reflexes before addressing the underlying nervous system dysfunction — what Dr. Ebel calls “fixing B and C before A” — can actually destabilize the nervous system and cause regression, based on his own clinical experience running a multi-therapy integrated practice.

Are Retained Primitive Reflexes Really the Root Cause of Autism and ADHD?

Retained primitive reflexes are movements and automatic responses that are normal in infants but are supposed to fade as a child develops. When they persist past the expected developmental window, they are commonly blamed — by functional neurologists, social media health accounts, and even some practitioners — as a root cause of autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and developmental delays.

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, founder of PX Docs, argues that this claim is accurate but critically incomplete. Retained primitive reflexes do contribute to ongoing neurological disruption. But they are not what started the problem. They persist because a child’s autonomic nervous system is stuck in sympathetic dominance — the fight-or-flight state — due to subluxation and dysautonomia. As long as that underlying dysfunction remains unaddressed, the nervous system is wired to hold onto primitive reflexes as a form of neurological self-protection.

Research using HRV (heart rate variability) technology — which measures sympathetic dominance — shows that children with retained primitive reflexes consistently show compromised HRV scores, confirming that the sympathetic storm came first. The retained reflexes are downstream of it. That sequence matters enormously when it comes to choosing what to treat, and in what order.

Welcome to the Ask Dr. Tony Format [0:00 – 2:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP: Parents, here we go again. It’s the Ask Dr. Tony episode. This is the Experience Miracles podcast, and I’m your host — an expert in pediatrics, neurodevelopmental disorders, and drug-free, nervous system-focused healthcare. On this weekly episode, I’ll address the top questions on every parent’s mind.

We love and welcome parents who never stop learning, asking the hard questions, and advocating for your children like none other. Get ready for real talk, real-life clinical and parenting experience, and easy-to-understand answers that will help your family take action and reach the next level of health and healing.

This is the first of a new type of episode for you. Our number one goal is to build up and restore your hope — by explaining things and answering your questions without dismissing them or blaming genetics. We dive deep into the neuroscience to get to the root cause of why our kids are so sick.

We love to talk about this from a big-picture perspective — what we call The Perfect Storm, which is the story of what’s causing such a dramatic, truly pandemic rise in chronic illness in our kids. Then we also go granular. Today’s conversation, about retained primitive reflexes, is exactly that kind of specific, science-driven question.

What Are Retained Primitive Reflexes — and Why the Common Narrative Gets It Wrong [2:00 – 7:00]

If you’ve heard about retained primitive reflexes as a parent or a provider, I promise you this: you’ve heard about them in the context of being a root cause. The way they’re presented on Instagram, Facebook, and across many platforms — and from many in my profession, functional neurologists who are predominantly chiropractors — you’ve probably been told that retained primitive reflexes are a huge deal because they cause the nervous system to be dysregulated, dysfunctional, and stuck in sympathetic fight-or-flight.

When a child has retained primitive reflexes — which are normal reflexes for an infant to have in the first few months, ones that are supposed to integrate and fade as the child develops optimally — the conversation is that this is what’s causing developmental problems.

Retained primitive reflexes are blamed for everything from sensory processing overdrive and overload, meltdowns and difficulty with sensory transitions, gross motor delays — missing milestones, skipping milestones — fine motor problems like handwriting, speech and oral function, and visual issues like tracking, reading, and dyslexia. In the autism world, retained primitive reflexes are blamed for the full range of neuromotor, sensory, social, and cognitive disruption that these children experience.

This statement — that retained primitive reflexes are a big deal — is absolutely accurate. It’s just incomplete.

“Retained primitive reflexes are more of a secondary, and in the nerd world, I would argue honestly even a tertiary component of neurological dysfunction, dysregulation, and dysautonomia.”

It’s the same thing with the neurotransmitter imbalance theory: the chemical imbalance being blamed for ADHD and anxiety is accurate in part of the scientific and neuroscience story, but it’s not the whole story. Neither are retained primitive reflexes. There is a reason that primitive reflexes are retained in the first place.

The Real Root Cause: Subluxation and Sympathetic Dominance [7:00 – 10:00]

In the world of Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, we link dysregulation, dysfunction, and dysautonomia to subluxation — where the sympathetic fight-or-flight nervous system is overstressed and overactive due to interference between the brain and body communicating through the neurospinal system. This is where subluxation sets up shop and creates a vicious cycle.

Subluxation often begins in utero during fetal development. That’s the first component of The Perfect Storm. Then there’s birth trauma — physical injury to the brainstem, which is the on/off switch between the autonomic system and the central neuromotor control center. This is where retained primitive reflexes then show up — secondary or tertiary.

So when a child is stuck in sympathetic dominance because they are subluxated and their nervous system is out of balance, retained reflexes are going to be retained. It’s actually a normal, pre-programmed neurological response for that child to hold onto their reflexes. As long as they’re still stuck in the sympathetic storm, they will hang on to those reflexes.

The reflexes, when retained, do make things worse — they cause a continued sympathetic response, confusion, distortion, and delay of neurological development. That’s true. But they’re the middleman, not the root cause.

Think of it this way: it’s a specific sequence with which this storm brews. One thing causes another. Sympathetic dominance triggers reflexes to be retained. Retained reflexes then amplify the sympathetic response and worsen neuromotor distortion. But they entered the sequence after subluxation and sympathetic dominance. They’re not what started it.

“Reflexes are secondary or tertiary. They’re the middleman. They’re not the root cause.”

Dr. Tony’s Clinical Journey: What He Learned from Doing It Wrong First [10:00 – 17:00]

I know this to be true from direct clinical experience. I was fully trained in all of this — I stopped just short of graduating from the certification process to become a functional neurologist about fifteen years ago. I went full speed into functional neurology training, and the reason I stopped short of completing the exam is that I was already doing all of it in the clinic.

I am an obsessive learner and an immediate doer. I learn something, I start it yesterday. So we built a massive functional neurology, multi-professional, integrated clinic — working on neuro-integrative exercises, vestibular reflexes, and visual accommodation. I worked with a behavioral optometrist. We also went biomedical — obsessed with the microbiome, doing stool samples, heavy metals testing. You name it, we did it.

Then our clinical results — meaning getting kids better — got worse. The more we did, the worse our results got.

The more we messed with primitive reflexes first and early, and the more we messed with the brain before we had the foundations, we actually destabilized the nervous system. Kids had quite a bit of regression. Some old behaviors and sensory issues that families thought had passed came back up.

If you’re trying to fix B and C and D and E first, and A is still a mess, the original root cause dysfunction in the nervous system will not only plateau — sometimes it will actually destabilize and go a little haywire.

“Get them adjusted for 100 to 180 days first, then go back to that stuff — and it’ll work 10 times better.”

So I literally cleared out all the different providers in the practice. We stopped doing all the neuro-integrated primitive reflex therapies. Because every healing modality has a time and place — but only if you do them in the right order and get to the root cause first.

Some of them, after the nervous system is stable, aren’t even needed anymore. That’s not something to mourn. That should be celebrated.

The Perfect Storm Sequence: How Retained Reflexes Actually Develop [17:00 – 22:00]

When a child’s neurodevelopmental sequence gets derailed, here’s what actually happens in order.

First, there’s the fertility and pregnancy journey — often high-stress, sympathetically dominant, and anxiety-driven. We know from HRV research in prenatal and fertility studies that the tone and balance of mom’s nervous system directly shapes the tone and wiring of baby’s nervous system. A child who has retained primitive reflexes will consistently show a tanked HRV score — because they were in sympathetic fight-or-flight first. The sympathetic storm created the conditions for reflexes to be retained, not the other way around.

Then there’s birth trauma — forceps, vacuum extraction, C-sections, breech positioning, cord wrapped around the neck. Birth is physically traumatic and causes injury and damage to the vagus nerve, the brainstem, and the neurospinal system. It triggers subluxation and sympathetic dominance. The vagus nerve — the on/off switch for the autonomic system — runs right through the upper cervical spine and brainstem area. Any mechanical insult there sets off the cascade.

Now that child is stuck in the sympathetic storm. They get sick more often, develop chronic ear infections, colic, and constipation. They get antibiotics, Miralax, more medications and toxins — which continues to brew the storm and feed the vicious cycle.

Retained primitive reflexes are part of that cycle, but they appear because of subluxation, sympathetic dominance, and dysautonomia. Dysfunction and dysregulation come first.

So are retained primitive reflexes a root cause of autism, ADHD, and sensory challenges? They’re root-ish. They’re close. But something else happened first — and that’s what needs to be addressed.

The Three R’s: How Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Resolves Retained Reflexes [22:00 – 30:00]

Here’s the sequence that actually gets results for children.

Step one: Work with a Neurologically-Focused Pediatric Chiropractor first. I know that sounds like the obvious answer coming from me. But I genuinely don’t care what gets kids better — only that we do. I went and got hundreds of hours of certifications and training across every modality to figure out what works. The answer is clear: you can have all the right ingredients, but if you don’t address A before you address B, C, D, and E, nothing integrates the way it should.

Children’s nervous systems are often so sympathetically dominant, so dysautonomic and out of balance, that it takes at least 90 to 100 days of high-dose, sometimes intensive, neurologically-focused chiropractic adjustments to release the stuck fight-or-flight response.

That brings us to The Three R’s:

Release — The first stage. We release the stuck sympathetic fight-or-flight response that is causing the retained primitive reflexes. We do this by stimulating and activating the vagus nerve and parasympathetic system.

Rebuild and Restore — We activate the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic system. We turn neurological regulation and development back online. These adjustments are not about putting crooked spinal bones back in alignment. They’re neurologically focused — working directly on the central and autonomic nervous system. Nothing gets more potently and directly to the nervous system, to the vagus nerve, to the brainstem, and to the brain overall than these kinds of adjustments. Not a laser, not a wobble board, not essential oils. Love them all — they’re all helpful — but nothing matches the direct neurological impact of a skilled adjustment.

Reorganize — We restore balance to the central and autonomic nervous system. We track all of this through INSiGHT Scans, which measure nervous system function objectively — not just symptoms, but actual neurological output.

In about 98% of cases, once we’ve resolved sympathetic dominance, subluxation, and dysautonomia through neurologically-focused chiropractic care, we never have to worry about retained primitive reflexes. Because they resolve on their own.

Some kids need 90 days. Some need 6 to 12 months of focused, intensive care. It’s hard to tell parents to focus on one thing when their child is nonverbal, having seizures, or going through a PANDAS flare. The instinct is to do 17 things at once. I’ve been there — I watched my own son have seizures. But doing things in the wrong order doesn’t give you more results. It often gives you fewer, and sometimes causes regression.

Neurological Stability: When to Add PT, OT, and Speech Therapy [30:00 – 34:00]

There’s a milestone in every child’s care plan that we watch for closely — what we call neurological stability. It’s the point at which a child’s nervous system has genuine resiliency, adaptability, and reserve capacity. The vagus nerve comes back online. The parasympathetic system — the rest, relaxation, integration, and development side of the nervous system — starts functioning properly.

At that point, we track everything: the INSiGHT Scans, the neuro-soft signs, sleep, digestion, immune function, behavior. Body gets better first, then the brain.

Once neurological stability is reached, neurological momentum takes over. Now the child is actually ready to heal. And now we bring in the rest of the team: PT, OT, speech therapy, functional medicine — because a child with a regulated nervous system integrates every intervention ten times better.

When we send children out to PT/OT and developmental therapy after reaching neurological stability, I always ask whether they found retained primitive reflexes on exam. One out of ten times — at most — the answer is yes, and even then, providers say they’re not concerned about it.

The community of PTs, OTs, speech therapists, and EI specialists we work with across thousands of cases already understands this. They don’t worry about primitive reflexes when a child is getting adjusted and their nervous system is coming back online.

Focus on the nervous system entirely first. Then, when a child needs other experts and other interventions, the timing is right and those interventions will actually work.

“Find yourself a chiropractor who is a master of one — a Jedi of neurologically focused adjusting — who works directly on the central and autonomic nervous system. Nothing is more potent or more direct than these kinds of adjustments.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Are retained primitive reflexes a root cause of autism and ADHD?

According to Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, retained primitive reflexes are a secondary — and sometimes tertiary — symptom of deeper nervous system dysregulation, not the original root cause. They persist because a child’s autonomic nervous system is stuck in sympathetic dominance due to subluxation and dysautonomia. Addressing the underlying nervous system dysfunction first is what actually resolves them.

What actually causes retained primitive reflexes in children?

The sequence, as Dr. Tony Ebel explains it, is: maternal stress during pregnancy activates sympathetic dominance in the developing baby. Birth trauma — forceps, vacuum extraction, C-section, cord wrapped — then causes physical injury to the brainstem and vagus nerve, deepening that sympathetic state. As long as the child’s nervous system remains in fight-or-flight, primitive reflexes stay retained. That’s the actual chain of causation.

Will treating retained primitive reflexes directly help my child?

Dr. Tony Ebel’s clinical experience — including running a multi-therapy integrated practice — found that directly treating retained reflexes before stabilizing the nervous system often caused regression and destabilization. In approximately 98% of cases at PX Docs, once subluxation and sympathetic dominance are resolved through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, retained primitive reflexes resolve without any direct treatment.

How long does it take for neurologically-focused chiropractic care to work?

Most children need 90 to 180 days of high-dose, neurologically-focused chiropractic adjustments before reaching what Dr. Tony Ebel calls neurological stability — the point at which their nervous system has enough resilience and adaptability to benefit from other therapies. Some children, especially those with complex presentations, may need 6 to 12 months of focused care.

When should my child start PT, OT, or speech therapy?

Dr. Tony Ebel recommends establishing neurological stability through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care first, then introducing PT, OT, and speech therapy. A child whose nervous system has been regulated and reorganized integrates movement therapy, behavioral therapy, and functional medicine interventions significantly more effectively — often producing results that weren’t possible before.

How do I find a neurologically-focused pediatric chiropractor near me?

The PX Docs directory lists trained practitioners in Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care across the US and beyond. You can search by location at pxdocs.com/directory.

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