Do you have problems with proprioception (body awareness)?

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If I trip on stairs its usually only the first one or two or the last one or two steps. I do the next two occassionally. Its really annoying though when you drop something expensive or that you really like and want to be careful with...so is losing them or losing track of them.

interesting. . . I like crossing my legs whenever possible

Bumping people is a major problem for me since I am 6'2 and very strong, powerful. Not more than once have I knocked over someone accidently! This worries me when I go to church as there are so many eldery folks around. Has anyone have the problem of not being able to touch their noses when your eyes are closed? I can't.

Yes, as is noted by my lack of coordination (especially whilst eating), and sometimes by inability to tell where my body is if my eyes are closed, especially my head.

As probably others of you have, I also have problems with the vestibluar system (problems with inner ear) where my balance is absolutely horrible. Due to this, I often walk incredibly slowly and always look at the ground so as to avoid tripping over things. Apparently my great-grandfather on my mother's side did this as well. She tells stories of him always running into tree branches (I do this constantly when near low-branched trees). I also hate slick or wet surfaces. Ice scares me to death.

I have some problems with balance on stairs, but for some reason I am mostly affected when I go UP the stairs and not so much down. I find this odd and would expect really the opposite.

Has anyone else ever seen themself in a mirror as they walked past and thought "who is that?!". I did that at school recently. It was so weird.

I have Dyspraxia, so a lack of spatial awareness, but I also feel the need to do some weird things. When I first opened this thread, I read that it included sitting on your hands, and I realised I was doing that...

Just the other day I was following a friend through a doorway which had something in front of it which we had to go round the side of. He skirted round the object with no problems, I followed, and hit my elbow on the doorway and it hurt quite a lot. But he's understanding, because his brothers are also Dyspraxic. I felt stupid though... I do a lot of things without realising where my limbs are going. And sometimes I miss my mouth when I'm eating.. that's really embarrassing. Still though, with practice and concentration, it's got better.

is this the same as tripping on the bottom steps??
when i am walking down a flight stair when i get to the bottom to i will stumble or trip if i am not paying complete attention to my feet.

i think about walking. and where my feet are going

i miss the light switch when i reach for it every single time!! !!

i bend down to pick up something on the floor and will miss it and have to rebend down to try again

i also scrape the heck out of my watches! i don't dare have a nice watch

(is this the same or not)

anybody with synesthesia? that would be so cool, seeing sounds, smelling colors. might make up for moving by bumping.

Yes, indeed.

People have been pointing this out to me my whole life!

* I have always been prone to walking into walls, furniture, doorframes, etc.

* I sit in ridiculous positions without being aware of it. When I was little I'd often sit with my legs splayed out and was continuously being nagged to "sit like a lady". Right now, my legs are folded on my chair, off to one side, and one of my feet is being squished by my other leg!

* When I was little, apparently I used to hang my mouth open all the time, especially when I was concentrating on something. I had to put in a major conscious effort to stop this! (However, I'm glad I did, because it does look pretty weird.)

* I am always doing odd things with my hands when they are not otherwise occupied. (Is this a stim?) I will start playing with my hair without realizing it. I pick up objects all the time without even intending to pick them up.

Anyway, yes, I'd definitely say I lack body awareness more so than most people I know. It's rather odd because there are so many stimuli that I am super-sensitive to, especially noises and textures. Hmm.

My mother tells me that when I was younger (maybe age 1.5-7 yo) I would always sit completely straight-backed (as in overly-excellent posture) and she always thought this odd because she never saw other kids doing this. Rather the opposite: always slouching. But any time I sat, I was completely straight-backed.

These days, my back cannot take this in the least. Sitting straight up makes it ache within a minute or so (I have a bad back if you could not tell already).

Yay! I'm home.

Sometimes, when walking, I feel strange as in the sense that it does not feel right and that I am not properly connected to my body.

I've spent my entire life trying to overcome ungainliness/clumsiness. I'm 6'1" and naturally take up more space than most; add the spacial weirdness to that, and you've got a recipe for disaster! Even my dad used to make fun of me when I was a child for my lack of coordination, calling me variously "unco" and "galoot". Nice, eh?

Over the years, I've developed a personal "checking" system of sorts for when I'm in public. I try to keep all of my movements "tidy", so as not to invade other peoples' space and/or make constant @ss; I walk softly, rather than stomping about. Being sort of forced into tap and ballet classes as a kid may have helped a bit, because I *can* be quite graceful if I try, hehe. I'm constantly monitoring everything I do, out of paranoia, though...because I can walk into doorjambs, smack my knees on desks, and trip over my own feet with the best of 'em.

Has anyone found that their coordination/clumsiness has worsened over time? I was sort of a clumsy kid-- not enough for anyone to be worried about-- but now I am like a clown. Has anyone experienced this???

I have lack of lack of coordination. I have problems with fine motor skills, so I am unaware of things.

I bump into things and lose my balance all the time. I doubt I could pass a field sobriety test (A.K.A. roadside ballet) despite being a teetotalist. Smehow, I drive OK though.

I have no problem with that test, either. Maybe the test is useless? I find a better indication of the problem is to close my eyes, bend both elbows and then try to touch my fingers together a foot or so in front of my face. I usually miss by an inch or two.

I experience all of the other factors you mentioned, and usually sleep with my hands between my knees. I think proprioception may also be a driving force behind the leg-movement stims I do when I'm sitting at a desk for a long time, as the movement helps to reintegrate my body sense. When riding my motorcycle for any sort of distance on the highway I lose awareness of my arms. I can still steer and throttle because I can apply a differential force to the handles just using my wrists, but it feels like my hands are floating in space and not really connected to me. The proprioception returns when I get off the highway as I have to use my arms to support my upper body weight (it's a racing bike).

Something that really helps with limb proprioception is to wear something tight. I have a long-sleeve rash-guard (lycra shirt intended for surfing) that really works well for this.

I seem to have a sound-over-vision priority. If it's dark or my eyes are closed, sudden sounds will result in the appearance of bright flashes of light (like TV snow).

I have also noticed that when I'm in a very noisy environment my vision slowly becomes degraded -- first I lose my peripheral vision and the normal attention reaction to movement as well as the will to scan my environment, then I lose focus, and eventually get a nearly irresistable urge to squint or close my eyes.