CAN YOU SELF-TEST FOR RETAINED PRIMITIVE REFLEXES?

Retained primitive reflexes are never a normal finding. They can occur if there’s been a brain injury or significant neuro-degeneration, known as “frontal release.” What that means is that the frontal lobes that should be inhibiting these reflexes in the brainstem are not functioning well and so have released them back into action.

But what if the frontal lobes never developed fully in the first place?

Then the reflexes might still be there.

You should be curious as to whether you have retained primitive reflexes if you’ve had certain issues since childhood. Delayed milestones or weird crawling are dead giveaways, but aren’t always the case. You may have had attention, cognitive or mood issues. You may have had immune or gut issues.

You may have been diagnosed with ADHD or autism, autoimmunity or any psychiatric disorder.

In this Lab Note, we discuss the different types of assessment of primitive reflexes and some of the differences between testing at home vs having a professional assessment.