The Spinal Galant Reflex is one of the early movement patterns present at birth. When you stroke a newborn’s lower back, the muscles on that side automatically contract. This reaction helps build early tone in the muscles of the back and plays an important role during birth and early development.
What the Spinal Galant Reflex Does in Infancy
This reflex serves two main purposes:
• Assisting in the birthing process
As the baby moves through the birth canal, the friction along their lower back triggers this reflex. The repeated activation helps the baby wriggle, twist, and navigate their way through the birth canal.
• Building tone for early movement
After birth, the reflex continues to help strengthen the muscles along the spine. This sets the foundation for rolling, crawling, and later upright posture.
The Spinal Galant Reflex normally integrates and fades away around 3–6 months of age.
Why Some Adults Still Have It
If the reflex doesn’t fully integrate, it may remain active into childhood or adulthood.
A retained Spinal Galant Reflex seems to be correlated with:
- A difficult birth, especially where natural rotation through the birth canal was disrupted
- Caesarean delivery, which removes the friction-based triggering that helps mature the reflex
How a Retained Spinal Galant Shows Up in Daily Life
When this reflex stays active, the back muscles can fire off unexpectedly when the lower back is stimulated — for example by:
- Clothing rubbing
- The back of a chair
- Movement against bedding
- Light touch or pressure on one side of the spine
A retained Spinal Galant Reflex can contribute to a range of issues, including:
- Fidgeting while sitting (the back constantly reacts to stimulation)
- Hip “winking” or side-bending movements the person can’t fully control
- Lower-back muscle cramps on the affected side — some research suggests this may contribute to the development of spinal scoliosis
- Bedwetting or urinary urgency in children, due to unexpected increases in intra-abdominal pressure
In adults, it often presents as posture asymmetries, irritability in the lower back, and difficulty sitting still.
How to Test the Spinal Galant Reflex
- Have the person go onto all fours.
- Use a firm, sharp object (e.g., the edge of a pen) and stroke down the lower back, starting at the lower ribs and moving toward the pelvis — similar to striking a match.
- A positive Spinal Galant occurs when the hip bends or “winks” toward the side you stroked.
Exercises to Help Integrate the Reflex
We use a three-level progression:
Replicate → Refine → Override
Level 1: Replicate — Side Crunches with Heel Touches
Lie on your back with your knees bent.
Reach toward the outside of your heel on one side, then the other.
As you lean sideways, your back rubs lightly against the floor, recreating the friction pattern that originally triggered the reflex in infancy. This begins teaching the brain to recognise and regulate that response.
Level 2: Refine — Side Crunches to a Slow Metronome
Repeat the same heel-touch movement, but now use a slow metronome beat to pace each repetition.
The controlled timing encourages the higher brain centres to take more ownership of the movement, improving coordination and reducing automatic reflexive firing.
Level 3: Override — Same-Side and Cross-Body Elbow-to-Knee Crunches
For the final stage, bring your same-side elbow and knee together as you lift. Follow this by bringing the elbow to the opposite knee. This creates a more advanced cross-body integration challenge and engages the muscles on both sides of the spine.
At this point, the movement is no longer reflex-driven — you’re consciously controlling and overriding the old pattern.