This isn't just a children's therapy. Adults carry retained primitive reflexes too. You've just had more years to find workarounds.
Maybe you've always been clumsy and accepted it as "just who I am." Maybe reading has always been tiring. Maybe you've never understood why noisy, crowded places leave you drained and overwhelmed when everyone else seems fine. Maybe you've been told you're anxious, or that you need to try harder to concentrate, or that you're being dramatic.
You're not being dramatic. There might be a neurological reason for all of it.
How retained reflexes affect adults
The same primitive reflexes that cause difficulties in children don't disappear with age. Adults simply develop compensatory strategies. You learn to grip a pen differently. You avoid activities that expose your coordination problems. You sit in the quiet corner of the office. You take the back seat in social situations because something about groups feels exhausting.
These compensations work, to a point. But they cost energy. A lot of energy. And they don't solve the underlying problem.
Here's what retained reflexes commonly look like in adults:
- Poor balance and coordination. You trip over nothing. You bump into doorframes. Sports were always a nightmare. A retained TLR or STNR reflex affects core stability, balance, and spatial awareness.
- Reading fatigue. You can read, but it takes effort. You lose your place. You re-read the same line. Long documents exhaust you. The ATNR reflex directly affects eye tracking and the ability to scan across a page smoothly.
- Difficulty concentrating. Open-plan offices are torture. Background noise derails your focus. You need things quiet to think. Retained reflexes can leave the nervous system constantly distracted by sensory input others can filter out.
- Anxiety that doesn't have a clear cause. You feel on edge. Hypervigilant. You startle easily. Retained reflexes can keep the fight-or-flight system permanently activated. This isn't psychological anxiety in the traditional sense. It's neurological.
- Chronic tension. Tight neck, shoulders, jaw. You might grind your teeth. Your body is working overtime to compensate for reflexes that should have integrated decades ago.
- Motion sickness. Still can't read in a car. Still feel queasy on boats. This often links to retained vestibular reflexes like the TLR.
It's never too late
I need to say this clearly because it's the first question most adults ask: the brain is plastic throughout your entire life. It can still learn to integrate these reflexes at 25, 45, or 65. I've seen it happen. The process works the same way for adults as it does for children. You're giving the brain the movement input it missed during infancy, and the brain responds.
Adults often make faster progress than children in some respects because they understand the process, they're motivated, and they're more consistent with their exercises.
What the assessment looks like
The assessment takes about 90 minutes. I'll ask about your developmental history. Birth details and early milestones, if you know them. What you were like as a child. What difficulties you've experienced through life and what you're experiencing now.
Then I test for each primitive reflex individually. I'll ask you to adopt certain positions and perform specific movements while I observe your body's responses. It's straightforward and non-invasive. Some people are surprised by how much their body reveals. A reflex that's been hidden behind decades of compensation suddenly becomes obvious in a clinical test.
What the programme involves
I prescribe a set of specific movements based on whichever reflexes are retained. You do these at home, every day, for about 10 to 15 minutes. The movements are simple but precise. They replicate the developmental sequence that should have happened in infancy.
I reassess every 6 to 8 weeks, retest the reflexes, track progress, and update the programme. The whole process typically takes 6 to 12 months. Some reflexes integrate quickly. Others take longer. It depends on how many are retained and how consistently you do the work.
The changes can be profound. People describe it as the volume being turned down on the background noise of life. Things that took effort start to feel easier. Concentration improves. Balance improves. That constant tension in your shoulders finally eases.
This is rare in the UK
I'll be honest with you. If your GP hasn't heard of this, that's normal. Most haven't. Primitive reflex integration therapy is well established in Scandinavia and parts of Europe, but it's still barely known in the UK. I'm one of very few practitioners offering it. I trained at the B.I.R.D Centre in Chester over 8 years, working with both children and adults. That kind of specialist experience is hard to find.
Get in touch
If you've spent years wondering why certain things are so much harder for you than they seem to be for everyone else, this might be the explanation. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation where we can talk it through. Book a consultation or call me on 07469 870 295.
