What is Areflexia?

Areflexia is when your body doesn’t react to things touching it, like when you normally jump if someone taps your foot.

Imagine you're playing with a toy car. Usually, if the car bumps into your toe, you might yelp or pull your foot away. But if you have areflexia, your foot just sits there, no reaction at all. It's like your body is asleep and doesn’t notice what’s happening.

Normally, when something touches your skin, a message goes up your leg to your brain. Your brain thinks, “Oh, that was a tap!” and sends another message back down to make you move. But with areflexia, that second message doesn't come, so you don’t react.

Sometimes, this happens because the messages can't go all the way from your skin up to your brain or back again. It's like a broken walkie-talkie, the message gets sent, but no one hears it on the other end.

It’s not magic, just your body forgetting to send the reply! Areflexia is when your body doesn’t react to things touching it, like when you normally jump if someone taps your foot.

Imagine you're playing with a toy car. Usually, if the car bumps into your toe, you might yelp or pull your foot away. But if you have areflexia, your foot just sits there, no reaction at all. It's like your body is asleep and doesn’t notice what’s happening.