Does anybody stim by tensing up?

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When Tenzin is really into something, he'll open his mouth and stare and tense his whole body until he shakes.
He'll often make a moan-like sound when he does it, too. Or, a high-pitched sound.

Sometimes he does this when he looks at water, or something on the computer, or even at the way light hits something.

I'm wondering if you'd be willing to describe the experience if you do this, too.

What does it feel like? Is it something you can control?

Yes, I caught myself doing it today. It affects posture and movement and I have to make a conscious effort not to do this. I flex my muscles and hold my hands in twisted positions if I feel a lot of tension while waiting for something. Mostly it has to do with feeling like I'm being watched. Other times it happens if I am concentrating heavily on something and really don't want to mess up, like holding a baby.

Ever see him wrap his feet around chairlegs/each other?

I'm doing that right now, typing is actually a stim relief for me, probably why I have over 40,000 posts on various message boards, and far more time spent in chatrooms/messenger/online game chats.


My girlfriend went off a very expensive med once, Abilify.

It helps her Zoloft work better, but we couldn't afford it for a while, and without telling anyone she let the prescrip lapse to try and be noble.

All of a sudden I notice she's getting stim urges, because she's tensing up and gritting her teeth, I told her to flap/writhe around, gave her a rolled up t-shirt to bite, a couple balled up socks to squeeze.

After a few minutes she tells me she feels immensely better, later she said it was the first time she felt I really empathized with her.


Stim urges are kinda like static in your head, if you ignore it, it gets louder, and louder, AND LOUDER, AND LOUDER, AND EVENTUALLY YOU CAN'T EVEN THINK FOR ALL THE NOISE, AND IT JUST KEEPS THRUMMING AND BUZZING AND PUSHING TIL YOU SNAP AND FREAK OUT...

Most people figure out how to channel the static outward, when you see him tensing up, see if you can get him to imitate you and flap your hands, roll your feet around at the ankle, work your jaw around like you're saying "oooh-eee-aaaa-oooh-weeee-oooo", see what helps him relax the most.

Give him a squeeze ball, a coin to rub, a stick to bend, all sorts of things, encourage him to let the stim urges out in a non-destructive manner, he'll feel better.

The tensing is something that we have to train ourselves to notice, and it is WAY worse for some people than others. My calf muscles are as hard as iron from doing this most of my life.

Hi, the way you describe your son sounds like how I was as a child. My parents said that even at a few months old I would tense my body and make certain movements with my arms and legs. Then when I could walk around I would sometimes throw my arms into the air and clench and stretch my hands. I also made noises that sounded like sighing or moaning. When I got older the movements became more subtle, and eventually I stopped doing it in public.
However I still want to tense my muscles a lot. I love having something in my hand to squeeze in or play with. So it's very recognisable and your topic made me think about my own stimming behavior. Never realised it was stimming before.

I do that, all the time. I love tensing up. It's fun and it helps me to release a lot of tension.

I have a bad habit of clenching my teeth, sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it.

I find tension with my hands or even my feet to be stimulating. I like stretching til creases between each finger do that subtle silent click (best way I can describe it. When somebody gets near me, I tense up but not sure if that counts as stimming. Sometimes I open my eyes and stare into space. Its like a stretch.

I used to tense up all of the time when I was a kid. This mainly involved muscle tension. I still have the urge to do it, but I made a conscious effort to stop and rarely do it these days. I'm not sure whether these are stims or if it's related to anxiety, but I'd be curious if anyone has any information on this.

I still like to tense up.

Better hope you don't have gas.

Also, this is very necro.

My daughter only does this when excited/happy so for her its 100% a stim. It makes it easy to know if she's enjoying herself.

I made the mistake once when she was younger to give her a piggyback ride around an aquarium, and as she loves animals.... my neck wasn't happy as her legs started tensing up around me. Prior to that I only thought it was her arms/hands and not a whole body experience

I stim by tensing up a lot. I've always liked to tense the muscles in my arms and back. I do it all the time and it doesn't necessarily depend on me feeling a specific emotion or anything, though being excited does easily trigger it. I usually just feel like I need the sensory input.

Once my amygdala went through the roof without any warning. I was crossing a big bridge, there was oncoming traffic with fast moving cars to my right and the low railing to my left, which was preventing me from falling into water from big height. All these movement, noise and fear of falling made me panic, but there are no options. My body was willing to run either into traffic or jump over the railing, kinda like spooked deer. This obviously suicidal will to act without thinking was additionally scary by itself. I was thinking maybe laying down on the pavement or screaming, but it felt more scary for some reason. I didn't think about running that time, but now it seems like it could've also helped.

Now for the tension. I felt like my body is betraying me, like I'm losing control over it and even the sense of it. Intuitively, I started clenching my fists as hard as I can and it seemed to help, it was like a point of focus for me, is was again in control and focused. I managed to finish crossing the bridge and a few minutes after was smiling about this sudden and weird panic mode, tried to rationalise it, find its roots but without any luck.

In terms if conventional stimming I like rhythmic exercises and swing. Also very heavy blankets.