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Awkward Walking and Body Movement

Talking driving lessons and license... I don't have that a license either. I was good at the theory and all, but with the lessons itself it was a nightmare. I've spent about 35 lessons just to learn how to use the gears correctly when slowing down for roundabouts for instance. And I still didn't really got it. The effort I was putting in physical movement, steering, braking, gears usually made up for me not paying attention to the speedgauge, nor traffic behind me, I lost eye contact with my rear mirror, stuff like that... that being said, I could probably drive in a vacuum or in emergency (if rules don't apply) but driving safely as an active member of traffic is a totally different deal. But yeah, like I said, the rules itself... the understanding of signs on the road, who goes first and all... I understood that in theory, yet if it involves "improvisation" just like every other day in traffic, I'm a mess.
 
Droopy said:
I haven't taken driving lessons yet but it will be interesting to see how my coordination and reaction speeds are.
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I own a truck and a firebird and my driving is actually pretty good. Im kinda cocky about my driving :P I usually do burnouts and donuts when Im leaving parties or social events. Me and my buddies sometimes race have raced on backroads the last 4 years and Iv never been in a car accident yet (and I hope I never do...)

As far as my actual body movements, Im pretty awkward. I dont worry to much about my walking but my arms annoy me. I never know exactly what a normal person does with them. Im good at mimicing peoples body movements without them noticing but its just not the same. It effected some of my sports, mostly just baseball and basketball. I was good at football though because I played defensive end and that isnt too dependant on arm movement and coordination, its more about leg movement and body momentum.
 
2010Dolby said:
As far as my actual body movements, Im pretty awkward. I dont worry to much about my walking but my arms annoy me. I never know exactly what a normal person does with them. .
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It reminded me, when I was about...15-16 I started wondering how to walk... What should look ok, not too weird. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my arms. I had a body language book, and from that book I have learned what different arms movements (during walking) could mean. So I decided to move in the way that meant confidence :) I tried to make sure that I didn't let my arms be glued to my body or move to much :) yeah... anyway nowadays I don't really care that much. But now I feel like I always have to hold something in my hands.

I've been thinking today about something...don't remember... and realized that even though I never had that many issues with the way I looked I still felt sort of...uncomfortable in my own skin. I don't remember one day in my life (since I was tiny baby) when I could honestly say - I'm comfortable. I always felt sort of pressured by the world around me (litteraly) in addition to that I felt very uncomfartbe with the way my brain worked, it's like something was constantly getting stuck. I'm wondering now if it is an Asperger's thing.
 
I can be very agile with certain movements if I am focused on them, such as flipping a coin through my fingers. But I think that has more to do with focus and repetition than true agility. When I walk or run I know I look awkward because I focus intently on my legs for example and then my arms don't move at all. I can end up looking like Napolean Dynomite if I don't concentrate on not running like that.
 
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.
 
Actually the body clumsiness is a symptom/criteria of Asperger's- this according to Asperger himself and as described in the the original criteria by Gillberg, 1991. Walking into walls is a symptom of SID (sensory integration disorder) as it has to do with body awareness. I've done a lot of research on this as both my sons are clumsy and often walk into walls and bumb into objects (both have AS and SID). It is believed that many, if not most, aspies have SID and that this "disorder" should be added to the criteria for AS (as documented by Asperger, but later discarded in the DSM-IV).

The tip-toe thing is not an AS symptom per se- this is actually a symptom of many neurologically-based syndromes.

N
 
I have a huge issue with stairs - my boyfriend can run up and down them like a horse but you'll never hear me coming either because I'm light, or because I'm slow, or both combined.

Always have to hold onto the rail.
 
I have a terrible problem with stairs. I have a terrible problem with thinking about how I walk, period. Not all of the time, but often enough that it has caused me a lot of anxiety throughout my life. When I walk down stairs I grip the rail and do it sideways. By this I mean I turn my body sideways and go down stairs one foot, then the next on the same step, then move to the next step. I worry about the people behind me thinking I'm not going fast enough or that I'm stupid and strange, and I get terribly anxious, so I usually wait for everyone to go on and then I go down stairs. Spiral stairs I cannot do at all. I can go up stairs pretty well, but I have to think about it a minute first like I'm preparing. Not a great amount of time, but the thought passes through my mind that I need to be careful and prepare my feet for a certain pattern. I have to think about how I walk normally, too, though. I have to think sometimes if I'm doing it right, if my back is straight enough, if my shoulders are positioned right, if my head is held high enough, what angle my spine is supposed to be at, then I get nervous that anyone notices, I get nervous that I have to think about it at all. When I walk down the hall I run into the wall sometimes...well, if you thought about my having lived here since I was four I guess it would be a lot. Sometimes I stumble for no reason, and it's kind of frustrating. When I was younger my ankle would flip in for some reason and make me fall down. That made me nervous, too. I felt like I was a time bomb of clumsiness waiting to be made fun of. I can't climb up or down things well, and I've always wanted to to challenge my gross motor skills. I feel like if I keep challenging my motor skills I can teach my body to be more in tune. I still think a lot about it, and I get nervous, and I realize I'm obsessing over something most people probably just...do. I always liked ballerinas, though, because they're precise and because they're graceful, and because tiptoeing was always fun. I still like walking like a ballerina sometimes :-) I can walk faster and I can spin on my toes, which feels fluid and efficient. I feel strange writing this. This is my first post, but...there!
 
I am quite clumsy I am told. I am always bumping into things or have awkward movement navigating around objects.

Interestingly, when I was young, I always climbed trees and did so quite well I think. I have done rock-climbing and rappelling; I was comfortable with this and it was fun.

I seem to have trouble in rooms, enclosed spaces. Perhaps it is to do with spatial sensing of my surroundings.

I am also quite tall, also, (6'3) so everything seems small to me and ceilings, low. That messes with my perspective, I believe.
 
New Year's eve I fell down the stairs for no real reason. That happens to me more than I'm comfortable with. I have a horrible sense of balance/spatial awareness I think. I often run into things or can easily topple over if I get distracted or have too much on my mind when I'm walking/turning corners. I also never learned how to ride a bike- I may be able to with practice, but because I know my sense of balance, that will always make me nervous in the back of my head...so I think I can never really learn. -_-
 
When I was a teenager a couple people told me that I walked funny. When the first person said it, I felt slightly self-conscious about the way I walked. When the second person said it, I became extremely self-conscious about the way I walked and attempted to correct my supposed funny way of walking. I don't think I walk funny anymore, but I can't say for sure. I think the thing people found weird about my way of walking was how I used to walk with my legs spread quite far apart from each other.
 
Interesting, I didn't ride a bike until I was probably about 10 or 11 years old. Once I learned how, I rode every day all afternoon, and I didn't ride with other people I would go off in one direction for miles and then turn around and come back home. Never really thought about it until now. All the other kids I knew, and didn't associate with, learned to ride much sooner and would kind of ride around in packs seemingly aimlessly.
 
I still feel that my walking is awkward, I certainly felt that way today when I was out shopping in the city. Perhaps I am too self-conscious and shouldn't worry about it.
 
I think as far as my walking is concerned, that I am probably fine, just self-conscious. It's my hands that are awkward. I can type very well and fast, but when it comes to floral design class I get what I call "gorilla hands":mad2: where I'll be shredding the flower stems if I try to use a knife instead of clippers, and just simply breaking stems as I put arrangements together. Luckily flower arrangements are forgiving and I can use those flowers who's stems I have broken later on in the piece as fillers.
 
Droopy said:
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.
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I feel exactly the same, always too conscious of my movements, and it's worse when I'm nervous. I am reassured to see i'm not alone.
Everyday I'm like a robot rushing through the crowd :)
 
I get very stiff and awkward around people. I don't know what to do with my hands. I end up moving very little, if at all, otherwise I might do something weird and get stared at even more than I already do.
 
Me too, I am walking to university and suddenly think 'am I walking right? Or Maybe I am moving in a strange way?' So I worry and watch my steps to make them exactly equal
 
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