Awkward Walking and Body Movement

[Bel]

I try sneaky techniques to make it seem like I'm just pottering around when in fact I'm trying to stand up and not fall over

It's very selective, one moment all is well and the next it's like I'm covered in oven mits and I'm trying to function 100% in them. Very clumsy and silly.

Stairs are the worst, I get a dread feeling approaching stairs...
Any climbing I instantly fall.

Hands can't stay in one place oh no no they need to dance and fiddle and muck around or else another part of the body will do it instead >_<

Also does anyone have a problem when it comes to not knowing your own strength sometimes? (Well too many times)

 

[Harrison]

Stairs are my problem too (posted elsewhere about it), and the advent of escalators was a nightmare. Now I just launch myself on to them and hope my internal gyroscopes keep me upright.

 

[Spiller]

I feel it's a combination of AS and selfconciousness/anxiety for me. I've practiced moving slowly and in relaxed fashion as I've observed other men doing and can manage ok on calm days, but I also have 'Alien Robot' days, I call them, where my body feels stiff, arm movements are erratic and I have to watch my feet when I walk.
Also, I think the AS means that, as I can't 'see' others' body language, I have trouble emulating it anyway.
For interest, I've found that running every day aids my balance and coordination.

 

[Structrix]

People have told me that I walk funny and that I run funny. I can't figure out what they mean as I've never seen myself walk or run. It used to bother me when people said that but now I just say "yeah, I know" and thats the end of it.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I sometimes hold my arms strangely when I walk, sort of bent up in front of me like a T-Rex. Though this doesn't happen as much as it did when I was a teenager as I was teased about it and it has made me far more concious about what I'm doing with my arms. People have also commented that I have a very long stride, but I think this is just because I grew up having to keep up with my dad who always walks very quickly. I also zigzag backwards and forward across the path as I walk, even if I'm walking next to someone, I don't notice but apparently I do it all the time.

When I was a child I skipped everywhere, never walked or ran, just skipped I did that until I was about 10 at which point the other kids started teasing me about it and I tried to stop. It took a while to break the habit though (to be honest I still do this sometimes if I'm in a good mood and not paying attention, just last week a complete stranger commented that they thought it was great that I was confident enough to skip across the car park... I had no idea that I'd been doing it )

 

[buckyboy14]

I've been told that I walk oddly, sometimes being blunty insulted about it, but I've never noticed anything. My mom tried to get me to walk normally for a little bit, but it always hurt, and she eventually stopped.

 

[kazz45]

Is it just me or does anyone else have problems with walking/body movement in that sometimes it tends to be awkward? Perhaps it has to do with anxiety or something but sometimes I can't help but feel that my body movement is a bit awkward feeling, especially around crowds like in a city. I also seem to be very self-conscious of myself and my movements.

I experience this too!! Apparently I also walk on my toes!!

 

[JohnH]

I have always (at least as long as I have been aware of it) held my head tilted slightly to the right. When I tilt my head on purpose so that it is perfectly vertical, to me it feels like it is leaning to the left.

I don't personally notice it when I am looking in the mirror unless I stop to truly look for it. It is most apparent when I catch a glimpse of myself from behind like in a store security camera monitor, or at the barber shop when getting my hair cut.

There were some kids in high school who would, as they were approaching to pass by in the hall, tilt their head to one side in mockery. Amusingly, it never bothered me because it was years later when I first became aware of it myself, at which point their odd behavior made sense. By then I just laughed about it, thinking that they went to all that trouble and I never got the message.

No one ever mentions it and I often forget about it until a question comes up. It's not a severe angle like torticollis, just slightly cocked off to one side. No clue why.

 

[Scorpiogirl]

I also am quite self conscious of my movements, like I find that if I drop my guard I will bash into things instead of going round IE; catch a hip or foot on tables and chairs. I reckon that it’s because my mind is really busy on other things and so I let my body get me places on autopilot sometimes and he just does a lousy job for me ; ]

Like epath13 said though, I walk fast as well, to the extent where people say; ‘I saw you walking along and I waved/ spoke to you and you ignored me’, I had no idea really as I just wanted to get where I was going. I find too, that a lot of the time if I do see someone coming I try to ‘Walk Normal’ and end up walking weird because of it.

With the stairs thing, I think I used to just have a lot on my mind and so would miss a step and bark my shins, now I concentrate on going up or down the stairs on just my toes and find that that works out great (I concentrate more and its good for the calves too). Also, I walk up or down stairs and somehow add one last imaginary step at the end, what the hell is that all about? I look like such a nutter.

There is this further complication to my walking that really used to bother me, I would always have to walk the same way to a destination every time, I would rant and rave like a madman if someone parked or stood about in the way and when I was really young I would just go home! Now though, I simply focus on getting there and I’m all good or I flip a water bottle or twirl something to change focus.

See if anyone else did this they would be called crazy but, I actually used to walk everywhere reading a book but, I somehow always stopped for cross streets or obstructions of any kind. It was like being on cruise control or something; people would beep from cars thinking I didn’t know what was going on. I never really remembered the journey unless someone beeped though.

 

[Scorpiogirl]

My aspie daughter copes better in the supermarket if she reads a book while following me and the trolley around. Not a common sight in the supermarket but I did the same as a child.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I got a lot of complaints when I was a kid for slouching, but I was nearly a full head taller than most of the other kids and I was teased regularly for it. It wasn't a conscious decision on my part, but I still did it. When I finally relaxed enough I could stand straight, I started getting comments on how I had the long, slow strides of a giraffe. Not that I was a slower walker, just that I took longer steps.

When I'm barefoot, I almost always walk on tiptoe. For a very good reason. I ran for years in my yard barefoot. And we had sweet gum trees. Anybody who is familiar with sweet gum trees and their seeds the sweet gum balls knows very well how pleasant it is to step flat footed onto one of those spiked devils. The pine trees and their cones had nothing on them. And there are a lot less thudding vibrations throughout the rest of my body when I walk on the balls of my feet instead of the heel, it's very pleasant overall.

 

[Judge]

Yeah, that would be me. Kids made fun of my stilted walking. Gave me a nickname I hated. Always made me self-conscious about my walk. Even today I still consciously try to avoid doing it.

It's also one of those traits (physical clumsiness) I thought I didn't have when researching ASD. But then I discovered this term "stilted walking" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The one trait I was confident I didn't have. But I did.

 

[karla]

I have been told that my movements are awkward. I have also seen myself on video and I know that I look odd when. When I talk, my movements are strange. I don´t like it

 

[kazz45]

ive been told i walk on my toes by colleagues at work!! i know they dont mean it unkindly; i was always clumsy as a child, my mum would never take me in shops that sold china or other delicate objects!!
i've found that i 'lean' in cars, usually to the right!! bizarre!! and i was useless at ball games at school, i could never catch anything!!

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

i've found that i 'lean' in cars, usually to the right!! bizarre!! and i was useless at ball games at school, i could never catch anything!!

your comment on "leaning" in cars made me laugh, I do this too (always to the left!) it used to really annoy my sister when we were children, I have to sit on the left side if I'm in the back seat or I'll get muscle cramps from leaning and holding myself up at the same time. Also can't catch a ball to save my life

 

[clg114]

I have always been clumsy. I am a big sports fan and tried a lot of individual sports( I'm not a team person). I've put a lot of time,money,study and practice into a few of them. No matter what I do, I just can't get any better than average. I see others do better with half the effort. It is one of my Aspie ways I could do without.