Reflex Mechanisms and Their Effect on

Flexibility and Alignment

• What is Reflex Mechanism?

 A reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in

response to a stimulus. A reflex is made possible neural pathways called reflex arcs
which can act on an impulse before that impulse reaches the brain.

• Although the previous section delineated voluntary movement, reflex responses,

rhythmic motor patterns, reflexive behaviors underlie most voluntary movement.

• Alignment and flexibility are components that are strongly influenced by the reflex
mechanisms in the body.

• Swayback is aesthetically unpleasing in most dance forms, and it predisposes dancers to

injuries.

• Although dancers cannot consciously regulate the reflex level of motor control, methods
involving awareness, breath, relaxation, imagery, and somatic word can utilize the
reflexes to make changes to alignment as well at to address flexibility.

• Numerous neural reflexes influence how muscles respond to stimuli without conscious
control

• All muscle action, conscious or non conscious, is the result of neurons firing and sending
messages to muscle Sometimes these muscles responses are called Reflexes, a term
used to describe a muscles response to a messages that comes not directly from the
brain but from a stimulus, such as touch, heat, pain, or stretch.
 Basic Reflex Arc

• Several reflexes exist that influence movement organization, alignment, and automatic
responses to environmental factors.

• The reflex arc comprises the neurological components that create a response to
stimulus consisting of a receptor neuron, an interneuron, and a motor neuron.

• The receptor neuron lies in the muscles, tendon, or joint, such as neuron in the muscles
that responds to fast or extreme stretch.

• The degree of stimulation needed to cause the neuron to fire is known as its threshold.

• The inrterneurons lies in the spinal cord.

• It might be excitatory or facilitatory,

• It might be inhibitory, reducing muscles response.

• The motor neuron is the final component in the reflex arc.

• It is the nerve cell thet fires and sends its message directly to the muscle fibers.