In addition to the action of external forces, the brain has motor reflexes which can also have an effect on body alignment. The most important of these is the righting reflex; the reflex that keeps our eyes level. The righting reflex is crucial to our balance and depth perception and thus the brain prioritizes level eyes over aligned spine, or pelvis or cranium.
Although the righting reflex does the important work of keeping balance, if a person has a leg length inequality, scar tissue adhesions from a previous injury, or organ dysfunction, the righting reflex will cause the body to twist and turn to accommodate the postural imbalance and keep the eyes level. These twists and turns are the genesis of those persistent aches and pains. If the postural imbalance continues, the righting reflex will demand that the body assume those twists and turns again, even if the muscles are released. If a postural distortion is caused by the dysfunction of the viscera, tight eye muscles or a leg length inequality and reinforced by the righting reflex, the effects of even a skillful and rigorous deep tissue massage will not last.
For example, if you have a habitual forward head posture, your eye muscles have become accustomed to holding your eyes up so that they remain centered. These tight eye muscles will cause headaches and fatique, but the righting reflex overrides that discomfort and demands that the eyes keep looking up. If a deep tissue massage releases your neck and chest, bringing the head back to a normal position, the eyes are now set too high. The righting reflex will now demand that the neck adjust to the posture of the eyes and the head and neck aches will return. Both the eye and neck muscles must be addressed to create a pain free posture.
The righting reflex creates a relationship between pairs of bones in the cranium and pelvis — the Lovett Reactor relationship. The temporal bones and iliums, the occiput and sacrum, the sphenoid and the coccyx all have an inverse relationship to each other. Ideally, they move in opposite directions to maintain balance and keep our eyes level as we walk. This normal movement stimulates the spinal cord and central nervous system and helps us feel balanced and confident as we perform our daily activities. If muscle over-tightness, skeletal mis-alignments, or scar tissue distort the Lovett reactor relationships, a person’s sense of well-being is severely compromised. Chronic pain is the result.
A thorough postural analysis and the application of Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy to the cranium, viscera, eyes and atlas combined with structural stabilization by a shoe lift( if needed) will successfully restore the correct Lovett Reactor relationships and help the righting reflex keep your balance without reinforcing your pain.
