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Hi everybody. Dr. B and Elizabeth here. Elizabeth, look into the camera. Hey, we are super excited to be sharing some good fun time with you today. Elizabeth and I are gonna talk you through the ins and outs of the Moro Reflex. And why it’s so important. So you want me to do this girlfriend, so let’s let’s go to our slide show.
What do you think? What’s that slide? So part three, this is part three of our primitive reflex series. Woo. And we’re going to take it through the Moro reflex, but first of all, I always want to acknowledge the incredible ChiroSecure family and everything they’ve done for me. For the profession and for allowing us to continue to bring this information and this, these messages forward to make you and help you be a better practitioner.
So let’s wok and roll. So Moro okay. So again, this is the third in our series. Last month we talked about Palmar and Rooting because those two little doodads go together. But today we’re going to talk about Moro. , And the Moro of the story is that the Moro reflex is really one of the most important, but one of the most important primitive reflexes that we want to consider, especially in today’s world, where we are in more of a sympathetic dominant, stressed out shift.
And that includes a little bit about. We know that the world of prenatal stress actually preconception stress is really coming to the forefront. I’ve been bringing this information for about a decade to our profession and it seems like I tend to be a decade in advance of bringing information and that it starts to come more mainstream.
And that’s what we’re seeing with premium. So why am I tying this in tomorrow? Because in utero we have a reflex called the fear paralysis reflex. You’ll see that up on the top part of the screen right here. If mom is in a out of NAMEC regulated state, not in a sympathetic shift, which we’ve seen that be the case more so since COVID.
But if she’s any balanced autonomic state this, the fear paralysis reflex will integrate in utero and it gives way to the Moro reflex. Okay. So then we are born with a Moro reflex and that reflex them all reflex integrates about two to four months should anyway, but we’ve also seen with the Morrow that prenatal stress in moms.
Tend to keep that Moro Reflex, more active. All right. So again, two to four months, we want to start to see this integrate. And what is happening at two to four months is that little bit apart, the Moro reflux represents the upper body and lower body plane lines connecting. So brain body, brain connection, and it represents.
Right and left. I did that backwards left and right. Okay. So it is a reflex that really connects both sides of the brain and body and the upper and lower parts the brain, the body of the brain, but even the upper and lower parts of the brain. Okay. So it’s a very important B flux, if this stays persistent to add.
And we’re going to talk about how to find that, how to really hone in on, on the nuances about that. We will tend to stay in a sympathetic government shift. Now, what I want you to understand is reflexes primitive reflexes. We’ve talked about this in the first couple of series. They’re the roots of the nervous system and they should be below ground level.
They shouldn’t be active anymore past, give them one year at the mask, but in the case of the Moro Reflex two to four months, At that time, little fiddle fart during these 2, 3, 4, 5 months, little fiddle fart is learning Midland, bring their hands together. Like we said, Morrow, upper lower connection side to side connection.
So we want to see these motor movement patterns happening in that little fiddle heart that is going to help integrate this Mario. They start rolling to their side and bringing their hands to midline and looking at their hands about five, six months, they’d bring their feet up to her face. Okay. So we want to see these things happening.
These motor movement patterns. That’s, what’s going to help integrate. Y down the persistent activation of mob. Okay. So that’s number one red flag you guys should be looking at are these little, for the parts going through these movement patterns, bringing hands to midline, rolling to their side, bringing their hands to midline and eyes on their hands.
Do they like tummy time? When this reflex stays active? We are in a sympathetic dominant shift. They tend to be hyper sensitive. To incoming sensory stimulation. This, my friends, sensory sensitivity is really being acknowledged as the gateway, the foundation of most all diseases, especially psycho logical mental disorders.
So the Moro reflux. Is associated with maturation of all the sensory systems. That’s what’s makes it so profound. Everyone is prepared to reflex. We talked about Palmer and rooting last month. Those are associated with maturation of the proprioceptive and tactile systems. But Morrow, that little sucker is associated with maturation, all internal.
Interoception immune system function, hormones, microbiome, proprioception, the Stigler. Those are inner senses. And then our five external senses sight smell, sound face. Ted Morrow needs to be integrated, not active in order for maturation of those sensory motor systems. And again, this. The foundation of physical, mental, emotional distress or disease.
Okay. So this is super important, this guy, right? And we’re going to see things, the microbiome be shut down. You’re going to get more constipated college. Allergies because the adrenal glands are really hyped up when this guy stays too active in your set up Archer babies. If, if you see a little fiddle fart coming in five, six months of age and they don’t sleep like a common thing, as mom says, we’re fine.
Give me, I’m still recovering from my injury. So it’s hard for me to know. So it’s, she’s fine when she’s up here. Okay. But then when I go to lie her down, she just starts crying. I go layer down that motto is that head drop, right? So I’d go lay her down in a crib or so forth. And she just starts screaming.
I’m consulting. That is often that you’re that Moro active staying Reflex to stay to active and they don’t console. They’re quality. They spit up a lot, their microbiome shut down as soon as you’re in stress, the microbiomes just stressed out. So again, it’s that bringing that and that head drop because that’s what the Moro Reflex is.
It is an extension mechanism it’s firing. It has to deal a lot with the stipular propioceptive action. And in the little ones in the infant, they will take deep breath in and splay out and then exhale and come to midlife. Moro is a very midline core reflex core identity. Okay. So that’s a lot in first couple of minutes of red pearls red flags, red pro.
To understand about Mara, if this thing hangs out, but stays too active, especially in the school aged years they’re like squirrel, right? They can’t sit and focus cause they’re always on hyper-awareness in survival based mode that prefrontal cortex is set down. So impulse control very much associated with emotional stability.
They’re easily distracted, especially to their visual periphery. If that Mara stays active we’re paying attention to our visual periphery. So instead of being able to sit and have attention to the teacher, the speaker in class, I see the wind is blowing outside and the leaves are moving.
So my. Johnny just scratched his nose. So I’m here and I’d get signs and symptoms of inattention attention deficit, hyperactive disorder, right? Super anxious. Adrenal fatigue. They create sugar, caffeine stimulants because the adrenals are tapped out. It started real easy. So a lot of things we see.
Are associated. They’re sick a lot because it’s so taxing on the immune system because the adrenals tank out. So we really want to look at is if you don’t pick up an active Morrow and we’ll go over ways to pick it up in your practice, but you seeing a lot of these signs and symptoms. In a health history.
I still want you to keep that on your back brain burner, that this is something that you need to consider because sometimes in the office you might not pick up an app tomorrow, but in times of stress in the classroom, et cetera, et cetera, that does become, it becomes more activated because these reflexes become more activated during times of.
Okay. Now for us chiropractors, I really wanted to bring this home. What’s it pop quiz question for you, those of you out there. What’s the connection between the diaphragm pelvic floor, postural stability and bagel tone, Mara intertwines in all of these. So Moro reflex is said to be a. I’m responsible for the first breath of life.
So what I have found clinically, I haven’t found that the research is that those little fiddle parts born, particularly with the cord around their neck, or that require this oxygen or didn’t take that didn’t cry when they first were born required oxygen. They hold on to tend to hold onto that Morrow.
Again, Maura was very core center based your solar plexus chakra is a lot, especially with Morrow as is the diaphragm. Now the diagram and the pelvic floor attic, a piston they’d go together. If I don’t have, if I don’t mature My pelvic floor muscles, if I don’t activate them. And if I don’t, if I don’t strengthen them, which actually happens about five or six months, when that little foot apart was pulling their feet to face, I won’t have good partial stability.
So this little fiddle part is sitting here on the floor, but it’s rotated off the center of their access. We want to see this happening when they start to mature and sit on their own six to eight months, if we don’t see them with good posture stability sitting on their own and be they pivot off their centered axis off their center core, that’s what Moro represents our center access.
Our core. It could very well be that more active is Moro Reflex to active. They’re holding their breath. They’re not using good diaphragmatic breathing and they’re using their diaphragm as a muscle stabilizer because their pelvic floor is not healthy. Okay. So breast chiropractice, what do we want to do?
Hey, thoracolumbar junction is a key area of. Be able to have core stability and pivot rotate our center of access. So we want to make sure that subluxation free. We definitely want to look at the pelvis and the speed annoyed have reciprocal connections. So thoracolumbar junction. Make sure that’s clear subluxation free cranial steak, roll.
Speed. Annoyed, pelvic connect. Because having that freed up and the pelvic floor stable is going to take the stress off the diaphragm instead of using that as a partial stabilizer, which is going to help us increase postural stability. The diaphragm is that breaking point of a Vegas nerve below the diaphragm is our bistro baby.
Needed for good interoception internal sensations of hormones, immune system microbiome, et cetera at above the diaphragm is going to be your in social engagement. Part of your radius. If Mara was hung up, meaning it stayed to active, this whole thing can be dysregulated. Okay. So make sure you get cranial sacral region.
Makes you look at that, see annoyed and the pelvic connection, make sure your upper cervicals, your pelvic is clear and you have to wrap a lumbar junction in particularly. Okay. So there’s that big connection with Mara. If this whole schematic is skewed, we’re gonna tend to be as they mature have issues with postural stability.
And we’ve talked about the importance of postural stability. Eh, it’s future past classes here that is very much associated with a lot of quote-unquote disorders, autism dyslexia to that syndrome, metabolic issues, you name it. So right here is key and core. So I want to show you a couple of ways that help pick up that more.
I got a couple of videos here for you right here. First you have your feet. This is called . I like that. Okay. Can I take this book? Bam. You’re awesome. Okay. Ready? Put your hands up.
So we want the hands up. Elbows flexed the risks. It was down toward the side. So when we’re looking at reflexes in the older child, we want to see, do we get our response? That’s similar to Ingrid response in the case is the more we flex you enough at the bay inhale and the arms spread out and then it heads now.
And then, so what you’re going to look for is how closely that reflux is mimicked in an older child. The closer in minutes in totality class, the more active is not want. Okay. So you keep them from me. Okay. And I want you to fall back and time. Somebody asked you, oh, the less butterflies.
Okay. You have your feet. okay. Now I want you fall into
a job. Was it scary? A little scary, immediately scary or a lot of scary.
Was it a little scary to call back? We can scary our loss theory. Little scary. Okay. So again, you watched her arms that kind of splay out. She was a little hesitant. She can’t really fall back all the way. So we’re looking for these little nuances. Do they break out in sweat? Maybe they do it fly. They’re fantastic.
Fantastic piece of cake. Then I touch their hands. I feel their hands. Did you shift them into a PA into a sympathetic? Did their face blush. These are the little nuances to pick up. If that Moro reflex is active. Okay. Now there’s another way we can test it. So this is like the trust fall that we look at.
But there’s another way we can look at the Moro reflex. So we’ll look at that here tomorrow is we’re going to have the child lying down. Palms. The pillow underneath their shoulders and their head up about when that was five or six inches. So Alex, I’m going to hold your up because as soon as you feel me drop your head, as soon as you told me, can you push your arms across your chest?
You look for me soon as I drop your head because.
Let’s do it one more time. I was down, I was fit palms. She goes, this is gonna be you close your eyes. As soon as you cross your arms
job, did that a little bit. Did you did the noise scare you a little bit, a medium,
a little bit butterflies in your tummy. Now, the reason I did the noise is the Moro Reflex again, it’s active individuals that might be more hypersensitive to things. Noise, visual distracts. Touch and so forth. So adding a little auditory input to see if that actually causes me more salary flies again, letting me know that Moro Reflex is hanging out, opening more active.
Then we’ll see how active it is. Be more.
So we were, they’re going to ask a little bit medium, a lot of it. I want to see how active that is, what they feel like inside, because this is again an internal awareness. Introception based core Reflex. I asked her if they had butterflies in the tummy because little kids, little fiddle, parts are gonna understand what anxiety means, but they understand what it feels like a butterfly was in their tummy.
Do they get itchy after. These are little cues that can give you a whole lot of insight into the neurological status. And so that’s two ways to test the Morrow. So how can we help integrate it? You can do what I call Venus fly traps. And again, we don’t integration is not by age or shoe size. It’s this is an extremely important thing to think about at a point.
It is my functional capacity. I might have a 20 year old that I have to modify the integration maneuver four and a six year old. That can do it just fine. So one give you some ways to look at it, to modify it based on functional capacity. Don’t. Look at his infants, you have to do it this way. Six to eight year olds.
You have to do it this way. It depends on how, what their no lines upon integrity is. So this is a little one sitting in a chair and doing the Venus fly traps there, their body, everything’s out, arms legs are out cross in this case, the right foot on top, then bring their hands and cross the right arm on top and roll up into a bar.
And then I tell them I’m role and uncross. Okay. But we’re going to see this in action. This isn’t a seated position, gives them more great for also getting core stability, which is needed in order to bring fine motor and ocular motor control on board. It’s more advanced. You can add doing it to the beat of a metric.
You’re adding some auditory input. You’re making that harder. Okay. But let’s see other ways that we can modify it as well.
Okay. So exercise, we can do to help integrate that Reflex reflexivity. So I call these maps from the second
All right. So we have these before. Are you, can you do this? And you’re right. Okay. And then do you remember your right hand?
Okay. And then you roll up into a ball
and had consent to.
Wonderful. And now the left side comes on top,
either the left side of the top, the left hand on top. Hey, remember, butterflies are looking at you. Suck your hands because you aren’t always at POS facing the face. Okay. So I tell the kiddos, is it. Yeah, they see me. Okay. Can you roll up and Duvall and bring him to
cross? Awesome. So that’s the other thing we do is you remember our clams, my ball pit. Okay. So we use a deflated physio ball, a big oversized snack animal. Certainly until you get your right ready here.
Oh,
okay. Randy, can you scroll back up to me? This one’s kind of hard. We’ll try it with these. You’re right.
Make sure your legs, your knees on either side of the ball and their arms and they’re squeezing. It is Omari plus is Hori less. It’s coming into the core me. So those are some ways to modify it a couple of ways that they, if they can’t do the Venus fly traps on their own, you start out by assisting them and helping them or use like I said, we use a physio ball right there.
And
Three four-year-old little bit aparts can be a little bit hard to assess. You can try to get them towards the edge of the bench and drop their head into extension and see if you notice anything. The other thing you can do is just kinda run towards them. Like you’re going to give them a big head and see if they start off.
So these are some other things, ways to pick up if that Moro Reflex is after. So your three to four. Do a modification between for testing wise, between an infant and the older kiddo that we’re showing here or showed before. But there’s some things we can do for this age group. A lot of noise. We speaking do some things.
I might have a mommy. Huh? Isaiah. Okay, mommy, hold it on your lap or
and we’ll get a deal. We’ll have they fix that animal in this case. We’ll use the ball and we’ll just
squeeze the arms and house. It’s crazy.
So again modification, and then for your little events, LA little ones, again, if you are noticing, even at that four month, mark, just a heightened startle in consoled Burley, and they’d go from mom holding them to down and inconsolable in the car seat, et cetera. This is good for your infants now.
Also it is good for helping to integrate so being on a proactive side of things. Okay. So let’s look at that real quick and we’ll wrap it up.
Older child will this modify it? So it’s not that video of that, where the little trailer and the mom and him sitting in a Crow, the app and put the ball and we call it the. So what we can do the long lines
and we just use that. I would use modify ended up, please. Okay. And then maybe give her attention and then. Up in school, please. Okay. So when did that three to five times, and then we can do a modified Venus flytrap as well. Where just as if you saw on the video with the older child where we’ll just do the the neighbors for them and then roll them up and rolling and cross and you can have the parents do it at home.
Again, three to five times or side with the little ones it’s real easy to do for just one person, because they are so small, so modifications depending on functional capacity, age and size. So there some text from the Morrow with David. Okay. So we gave you a whole a whole lot of information there to look at across all ages, all stages.
This is a fantastic series that you’re getting for free. Because it’s all of the thanks of ChiroSecure. So go back and start listening from from the number one in the series to last month, to this month, and we are going to continue this so that you get a whole collection to use in your office and give these to your.
To help build a foundation for a better tomorrow. So again, Elizabeth and I had, you got that girlfriend, thank you for giving us this opportunity for supporting the chiropractic profession. And until next month you guys go out there and keep saving lives. Erik Kowalke, we’ll be back with you the first Thursday of the month, and I will see you in.
Today’s pediatric show to my children was brought to you by ChiroSecure. .