Do you have problems with proprioception (body awareness)?

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Proprioception is the sense of the position of parts of the body. (Here is a link to info on Wikipedia.) I have read that some people with Asperger's Syndrome have weak proprioception, that is, have problems with feeling their body parts, especially limbs. This idea seemed very weird to me at first, but when I started to think about it more, I realized that...
1. I often have a horrifying feeling at night that one of my legs is missing. I try to move a foot - ah, there it is!
2. I like to sit on my hands, and cross-legged (keeping legs on the chair).
3. I like very much crossing my legs and arms (and was actually unaware, until very recently, what meaning the latter conveyed).
4. If I do not cross my legs while sitting at the desk, I like to keep them in such a way that they touch the desk, chair or each other in as many points as possible.
5. I often touch my legs, seemingly without reason.
6. When in bed, I often assume a very strange position, with legs and arms tangled.
7. I like keeping objects in my hands (pens, mugs, etc.).
8. Finally, I often accidentally hit walls, door frames, furniture etc. with my hands when walking inside a building. My watch is all scratched because of this. I also bump into these obstacles often.

Of course, none of the above is really a problem. I can touch my nose with eyes closed (people with proprioception impairments often have problem with this test). But I suspect that my body awareness is somewhat weaker than normal. What about you?

Last edited by magic on 31 Jul 2004, 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I tend to feel very out of touch with my body (kind of like I'm just floating in it). I'm typically very hypersenstive physically, but I'm very unaware of how much space my body takes up and I'll accidentally hurt myself without realizing it (such as when I started cutting my finger instead of a bagel because my finger felt bagel-like).

I also do these things. I do several other things, as well:

1. In an unfamiliar environment, or a familiar one that has narrow passages to get through (like rows of desks, or a hallway) I often have to touch objects or the wall as I go, to avoid walking into things.
2. I like to tap the wall with my knuckles lightly a few times as I round corners.
3. I have an extremely difficult time driving and judging where the car ends and begins, as well as how hard to push the gas and brake pedals (I have a "lead foot" according to my father). I also have trouble with turning the steering wheel, either too much, too little, or in the wrong direction.
4. I find myself rubbing my arms or legs.
5. I am usually doing something with my hands, like rubbing one finger against another, or knocking my wrist against my thigh.
6. I look at the ground when I walk.
7. The weirdest one, probably. When I look out at something, like a landscape, for example, I feel as though I am swept away in it, as though I am "one" with that landscape- I lose all sense of my body where I am standing and feel as though my entire conciousness is "over there" where I am looking. This also happens when I am "overloaded" with load, rumbling sounds, in the grocery store (the lights do weird things to my perception, and all the people with the carts confuse me), or even in crowds, sometimes.

When I sit I usually sit indian style, or like now when I sit at the computer I have to have my legs crossed. When I wake up, i'm often lying in bed in the fetal position. It's just dosen't feel right otherwise for me.

I must try this method. Bumping into corners is my favorite pastime.


I also do it very often (I forgot about it).


[Off topic]
Civet, you wrote in another thread that you don't drive, so I assume that you have little experience driving a car (correct me if I am wong). Most new drivers, and also many people switching cars, have problems as you described. The driving course that I once took was mainly devoted to teach people proper coordination. Some people get it faster, some slower, but driving a car is not an innate ability. I talked to other students on that course (normal bunch), and many of them complained about inability to judge distance, driving on curbs, etc.

Yes, I'm pretty inexperienced. I'm currently learning, for about the third time now. I've been practicing driving off and on since I was about 17 (I'm 21 now), but have never been able to get a good amount of practicing in at once because I go away to school during the year, and only have the summers to practice. I guess it's good to hear I'm not the only one with problems like this, though most of my bigger driving issues come from the nervousness and confusion I experience when I am surrounded by other cars, and the difficulty I have with "looking ahead" at the road, rather than down at the road directly in front of the car (like I do when I walk). I just get too overwhelmed too easily. My father's temper also doesn't help things .

I keep saying this - but WOW! I have the same problems as Magic - again, none of them is severe enough to make me not leave the house or anything - but I do the same things . . .

The funny part is that I'm extremely flexible so I sit in these positions that frequently make people walk by and say 'How can THAT be comfortable?!'

Here are my probs in this area:

once or twice a month I "feel" like I am repeatedly moving an arm or a leg, but I am obviously not moving it (upon inspection). I imagine its a short of some type in a nerve, because if i actually do that action, it goes away.

Also, while I am in the shower, if I close my eyes, I feel like i am tipping over.

I have actually came about this idea of "self awareness" on my own, trying to explain myself to my parents futily. That wikipedia is awsome.

I can totally relate to all those points magic especially the tangling arms and legs bit; I tend to sit with my legs tightly "double crossed" and used to also have my arms crossed and gripping the back of the chair until I realised how odd it looked. When I'm sitting at a desk I also jam my knees against the metal edge which eventually wears holes in my pants and gives me sore knees :p.

UltimApe, I also often feel like I'm tipping although generally when I'm sitting down. I'll feel like I'm sitting on the wall and sometimes everything starts spinning and shaking.

Also when I'm walking around town I feel like I'm just one giant eye and sometimes I'm only aware of the feel of my clothes on my body so I feel kind of hollow if that makes sense.

Very odd, indeed. When I walk around anywhere that is unfamilar, or is an especially open space, or that is too bright, etc, I tend to lose a sense of my body. I feel like I am not seeing what I am looking at, it's almost like tunnel vision, except that I don't literally see a tunnel, it's almost as though my brain is not able to process that I am actually "seeing"- I see things without any sense of reality to them. I can focus on only one thing at a time (so if I'm at a bookstore, for example, this means that I can only look from book title to book title, reading and absorbing each one, rather than scanning the shelf). Only the object I'm focusing on is totally "real" and absorbed into my mind. My body holds no consequence, so I'm often getting in other people's way. It's like I have no divided sense of self/outside world- it's either one or the other (it all becomes one).

I used to feel like I was dragging an elephant around when I was a teenager - I felt like my body was elephant sized thing, a great dead weight that wasn't really 'me' - I ended up with bad posture because of it, I was also very awkward with my hands, just didn't know what to do with the bloody things and I had a funny walk, but since I've been older, I've got more tuned in to having a body. It's still a 'thing' that you have to groom and feed and keep out of trouble, but I can understand that it's 'me'. and that NTs identify strongy with their physical bodies, and that it's abnormal not to do so.

PP

I might be slightly clumsy, but I don't think I'm really any worse than my NT friends. I do sometimes get this thing when I'm trying to sleep where it feels like I'm having to 'hold up' my body (especially my head) when it's really laying on the bed/pillow. That sounds a bit like some of the effects described above and it's really annoying!

All I really have to say, however, is that "proprioception", is a really cool word that I'd never heard before. Hehe.

At last, kindred spirits!! ! I wake myself up rubbing my arms. I sit crosslegged on just about any office furniture that gets pushed my way - I hate sitting 'normally' in a chair. I bump into walls, miss my mouth when I'm eating. Dunk my paint brush in my tea mug, trip over shadows, fiddle, fiddle, fiddle! If there's going to be a glass of water or tea in a keyboard, they'll both be mine. I've nearly concussed myself more times than I can count. My left hand is a complete mess at the moment - I repeatedly slashed my middle finger while cutting paper, and smashed my thumb with a hammer. I've been driving for a while, but I still find judging the width and depth of my car a challenge - I like to leave my car at peculiar angles, and let the rest of the world worry about it. Sometimes I wait at intersections for ages, giving way to cars miles away from me, and other times, I go barging out to the beeping of horns... I've been told this is due to bad sense of depth, space and time. And yes, sometimes I find focusing on the car, the road, the traffic, navigation a complete war on the senses. I often end up going somewhere I didn't want to, because I couldn't change lanes because of poor judgement.

yes i am pretty clumsy too. just seem to forget what i am doing half way through a movement, lose concentration and get food down me etc. i am always knocking into stuff and i bruise really easily! i cannot feel the damage i am doing and for instance i am aware that my new shoes are rubbing, (i put it to the back of my mind because i cannot do anything about it just yet), but i didn't expect to see blood on my socks.

i did a lot of gymnastics, martial arts & dance when i was younger but it always takes me aaaages to get a move right. i can watch it but i cannot recreate it easily.

Yes, I also have trouble eating, especially with a fork or spoon. I will sometimes even turn my head to look at something, forgetting that my hand is still moving, and crash into the side of my mouth with my food. I'm just not cooridinated!



I'm not sure if this is body awareness or mirroring issues. I also have issues mirroring people's actions with my own. A friend tried to teach me to knit a few months ago, by demonstrating it and asking me to copy her. It took us probably the better part of an hour before I was even able to get one stitch (most people got it in five minutes).

Yes, I also have trouble eating, especially with a fork or spoon. I will sometimes even turn my head to look at something, forgetting that my hand is still moving, and crash into the side of my mouth with my food. I'm just not cooridinated!

I'm not sure if this is body awareness or mirroring issues. I also have issues mirroring people's actions with my own. A friend tried to teach me to knit a few months ago, by demonstrating it and asking me to copy her. It took us probably the better part of an hour before I was even able to get one stitch (most people got it in five minutes).[/quote]

but i take it you got there eventually? i always says that i am a slow but thorough learner. (this may be a device to protect my pride). perhaps you could knit us both some bibs