Do you have a unique way of moving your body?

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I don't mean stims/repetitive movements, but have you noticed that you naturally move your arms, legs and place and move you body that others don't seem to do? Have you ever noticed others moving differently from you?

Does everyone move like that when they're alone?

I know how not to do most of it when I pay attention, but when I'm excited or alone, I just move unlike those other people outside.

I have figured out some examples:

One thing that just came to my mind is that I automatically have my arms up at the level/above my head when I walk up stairs. My arms just go up and up and up...

I also have the tendency to just throw my body and arms and legs into a sitting position.

Then I notice I can't sit there all tangled up in my limbs! Other people don't sit on their arms or legs, pull up their legs or just let them stay wide apart, and others don't sit halfway in a seat - so on.

And I sometimes hold my fingers funny. Lets just say I'm a master at finger-acrobatic.


(These are not stims right? A stim would be when I stay still and start to rock back and forth by swinging my arms back and forth. Like a bird.)

Last edited by Sora on 16 May 2008, 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

When I walk, my left arm swings, my right arm does not.

It might be the other way around, I'm not sure right now.

Oh, yes, I was trained to swing my arms. It was so annoying and complicated. But that's how grandmothers can be.

I have figured out some examples:

One thing that just came to my mind is that I automatically have my arms up at the level/above my head when I walk up stairs. My arms just go up and up and up...

I also have the tendency to just throw my body and arms and legs into a sitting position.

Then I notice I can't sit there all tangled up in my limbs! Other people don't sit on their arms or legs, pull up their legs or just let them stay wide apart, and others don't sit halfway in a seat - so on.

And I sometimes hold my fingers funny. Lets just say I'm a master at finger-acrobatic.

These are not stims right? A stim would be when I stay still and start to rock back and forth by swinging my arms back and forth.

I like to sit with my legs pulled up on the chair. I also move a bit oddly in general. But I try to avoid these things, especially in the presence of anime fans. I realized they'll probably just think I'm copying L or something.

I walk on my toes a lot. (More so when I'm in a good mood)

I have unique movements as well. I almost always walk with my left hand in my pocket and my right swinging slightly. When I sit, I always have one leg crossed over the other and sometimes I sit with them both in the chair. Also when I'm sitting, I rest my right elbow on the arm rest or table with that arm standing up. When it isn't straight up, I'm resting my chin on that hand.

Yeah, can do the no swing, or the only one arm swinging (or just sort of sitting there loosely flapping while the other is stiff) thing.

Also my arms often if they don't just hang by my sides, they come up near my chest and dangle.

And I often bend over a bit and am stiff-looking when I walk.

And often seem to do something where I only use the amount of body parts necessary to do something, no more and no less. OR sometimes use ones that are excess but not the usual excess ones.

I found most of these out by putting a video camera up, in private, to understand how others reacted to my appearance in public. People can either (depending on the situation) trigger more or trigger less ability, so can look either more normal or less normal in public.

This was one of the hardest questions for me during my DX. I am not very aware of my body unless it hurts so I never gave much thought to how others saw me.

I do recall my mom yelling at me to "bend you knees when you walk", she said I looked like one of the gestapo because I walked with straght legs That made me paranoid for awhile but then I pretty much forgot about it and don't recall other kids making fum of me(then again, I was pretty oblivious of other kids,so who knows).

I also recall her making fun of how I sat because I was very uncomfrtable sitting "normally" butt in chair and back up right. I would alwys lay on the floor or sit cross legged in chairs or with my back aginst the couch seat and my legs over the back<--my favorite, feels really good. I still avoid any job that makes you sit. Another problem area is just standing still..I feel like I am going to tip over. I need to have my hand on a wall or stable object to feel secure. When I am talking to people, I notice that I can concintrate mch better in a squatting position with my back leaning against a wall. This would seem to indicate dyspraxia but...I was very good at climbing(loved it), riding a bike, roller skating and ice skating, no problem tyeing my shoes...I don't know what is going on....

I also never realized until the DX got me thinking about it, that I tend to tuck my thumbs into my fists and my hands are often in tight or loose fists<---I'm sure that is NVC that has caused me problems but I was unaware I was even doing it until recently.


As far as swinging my arms....I never noticed one way or another. I will have to ask my BF to see if I am or not. Ususally I carry things in my hands though I bring my "sensory safty kit" everywhere I go.

I don't suppose you mean while you're standing up do you? I used to do this, I would be walking around and if I decided to sit down or someone said sit down I would sort of sit cross legged mid air and land hard on the floor. I had it shouted out of me.


I walk a lot of the time like this-



I don't glow though and im not yellow. I don't know why and its not for any reason, it just happens to my body automatically.

Edit- I walk with my hand sort of like that I mean, I used to get teased but I didn't know why until my brother told me that when people are being stereotypically homosexual they sort of flap one hand down or something? I don't know, but I still walk with my hands like that sometimes, my arms just slot in that way.

Last edited by craola on 16 May 2008, 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I often find myself not swinging my arms while I'm walking, or even have my arms bent so that I'm walking with my hands in front of me.

This very much sounds like me.

I used to walk with a slight "bounce" when I was a kid and got made fun of it by my dad to the point that I corrected it by deliberately walking with more of a stomp. Now he complains that I walk too heavy like I'm stomping all the time. I guess that's the difference between stomping around at 70 lb and stomping around at 170 lb.

As for sitting, I thought I was the only one who just falls into place, sitting on my other leg or arms or whatever contortionist position I happen to end up in. I guess the one good thing that came out of that is I am still quite flexible.

I swing my arms like I'm marching when I walk and only walk on the edge of my feet, so the arch part of my shoes never wears down but the far edge does. Also I often walk on my toes.

My son walks like a video game character--zelda for instance. At eight, he turns heads with this gait.

I am a toe walker...and besides that, I have a funny akward way of moving my body that I can't exactly describe....I will keep my arms very close to my body in a sorta protective stance.

I think the tip-toeing kind of goes without saying...so far, I'm under the impression that nearly everyone on the spectrum does this. The non-arm-swinging one is news to me, though.

Not exactly a movement thing, but I skip a lot. A lot. For me, it's a lot faster than running, and a lot less tiring. Kids have tried to make fun of me for it, but it never bothered me.

Back to the topic though, I used to run really funny =/ Like, my legs would fly outward, to the left and to the right, instead of straight backwards. Eventually I got over it, but I still have...uh...whatever the opposite of pigeon-toed is. Sometimes people say I have weird footprints, or stand funny, but most people don't notice (or don't say anything).

I think I'm the only one who's noticed my right arm doesn't swing (on the rare instance that it isn't in a pocket). I think the only reason my left arm swings is because I'd always be holding my backpack or whatever with it, and gravity just sort of got it into the swing of things (pun intended).