Strange Gait? How did you run when you were a child?

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you are my hero

I got outran by fat girls. Now, I outrun all the jocks so I guess it evens out. I still feel like I look stupid on inline skates, though when I did it more regularly I of course was better.

Others have always laughed at my "bouncy" walk.

My best friend, since we were 8 years old, tells me today that when I have a new obsession, I walk with a "bounce".

My gait has also been described as "a sailor's walk" and "beetling along". It's also been described as "walking like a chicken".

As a child and teen, this was a source of torment as others made fun of me. As an adult, I always feel aware that others notice it, but everyone is too polite to mention it.

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I was told by a basketball coach that my posture in doing a jumpshot was awkward; also, when trying to learn to snow ski, I was told by the snow ski instructor that I didn't bend my knees as was the style needed to snow ski. I can jump but not skip evenly. I have brought the topic up with several neurologists/neurology offices and the topic was simply dismissed/ignored by them. I finally found some small insights into the answer (about gross and fine motor control, crossing the midline of the body, body balance, etc.) from a number of websites including the UK website: Hemihelp. Words: Neurology, dyspraxia, hemiparesis, gross and fine motor control, midline of the body, body balance, cerebral palsy / subtle cerebral palsies, out-of-sync child/teenager/adult, and so on.

My dad has been very active in sports when he was young (he even had a certificate as life-guard), so we (my mom, my sis and I) where going to run with him every weekend. Or we went for hiking at Saxon Switzerland (I was born in Dresden). We also learned to swim (sadly, I'm limited to breast stroke though) and to ski.

I remember having been corrected for my arms movement while running quite a long time (up to 12 or 14 years old, maybe even later). But I always had some problems coordinating my movements. I got bad grades in PE classes the first 2 years at school - and from 3rd to 8th grade I didn't get any grades at all.

I never thought of myself as a bad runner or walker.
But somehow I developed a mild scoliosis though.

As a kid, I ran everywhere...literally. Walking took too long. I never had any gait abnormalties and was able to keep up with other kids. Now, I have trouble running. It feels as if my muscles stiffen up the more I try. I figure it's just part of aging.

Normally, although I was very slow (and still am, to this day.)

Very clumsily. I didn't stay up for long--I usually fell over eventually when I tried to run, though I did so anyway because it was movement and I was in constant motion as a child. I never hurt myself very much beyond scraped knees. Today I am better at it because I spend so much time walking and have learned more or less how to keep my balance.