Injuries can cause a trauma reflex, and the trauma reflex can cause injures. How is this possible?

Injuries can be caused by a blow or a fall. When a blow is anticipated, we instinctively turn away from it, which leads to getting hit on the side of our body. Those muscles then reflexively contract so that they form a shield. If the blow is strong enough or creates a big enough “shock,” the contraction or tensing up the muscles becomes a habit. The brain behaves as if the blow or injury was still happening.

When the pattern of muscle contraction becomes a habit, sensory-motor amnesia develops in these muscles. We forget how to feel and move these muscles properly. So in the case of a strong blow or an ugly fall, we inadvertently acquire the trauma reflex’s habit. The muscles on one side of the waist remain contracted. These tense muscles in the waist pull the hips towards the ribs and the ribs towards the hips. Usually, this also involves the rotation of the spine.

This is illustrated in the pictures below:

Aleš Ernst, author of the AEQ method and AEQ breathing