Posture.

Post Reply New Topic

I have sensory issues with sitting up straight (the pressure on various points of my body that I get when I sit up with "good posture" = extremely uncomfortable + sensory overload). So I slouch and sit in odd positions. I also fidget a lot when I sit on a chair and rarely find a comfortable position for more than 5 or so minutes. I revise on my bed as it gives me less sensory overload.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I slouch a lot too, which drives my husband nuts because he thinks I'm going to become one of those old ladies bent over with a hump on my back.

I find it too hard and tiresome to stand up straight. Whenever I do try, it's still not right and I feel really off. I can't seem to get the combination right of "head high, shoulders back, stomach in." It requires too much coordination!

I hunch over a lot too. It doesn't hurt to sit/stand up straight but my body just doesn't naturally do it. Whenever I notice myself doing it I will straighten my posture but go back to slouching as soon as I forget. I seem to do it more around people who are shorter than me too, like I'm instinctively trying to get down to their level, but more likely to stand up straight around tall people. I've no idea if this is normal or not.

In body language, slouching is associated with insecurity and lack of strength. Confident posture says: "I'm in control. I'm in control over my body, and over my mind."

For example, a happy dog that knows it pleases its master and knows its master loves him may prance with a bit of bounce in its steps while holding its head high. A dog that is verbally beaten down and gets the message that its master is distant from him will slouch because of feeling insecure. It gets its confidence from the alpha leader.

When do you ever see someone chosen to be a leader who slouches? Body posture reflects inner beliefs. Changing your posture won't change your beliefs. Changing your beliefs will change your posture.

Yes, it's a visual thing for me (even if it doesn't feel like a visual thing), and working on the visual problem fixed the posture also. It actually feels uncomfortable to have good posture because you are so tense normally because of your visual processing issues. You may have strabismus like I do, or amblyopia like I had as a kid. Who knows? The moving around is because you have a poor sense of your body and your surroundings, so it's an instinctive thing. I used to have this much worse and have corrected it to some extent.

You previously posted about visual processing issues and Schizophrenia. I really think you should see an optometrist who can work with you on vision therapy and use yoked prism lenses. You sound a lot like people who have really benefited from this type of therapy, and you might really improve your functioning across a wide range of areas.



This is not true, if your posture is related to sensory issues, like mine and likely the OP's as well. Changing the cause of bad posture actually has started to change some of my beliefs -- but slowly. Playing mind games is not going to solve the problem when the cause of bad posture is a visual dysfunction.

I used to get so angry when my Dad would tell me I just had to learn to be "more confident" when I had bad posture. I knew it was a physical thing, and I couldn't just choose to change it. My Dad claimed I was just making excuses. When my Dad saw the difference after several months of vision therapy, he apologized to me and said I was right.

Bad posture is not the result of lack of confidence. Rather, I believe that the same underlying cause (visual dysfunction or a muscle tone issue) causes both bad posture and lack of confidence.

Logically, if B is always present when A is present, that doesn't mean that B causes A. I believe that C causes both B and A independently.

I have amblyopia, both as a kid and still now. That's interesting. I will ask my optometrist (I'm registered with a specialist optometrist in neurodevelopmental disorders, but he works 60 miles away from me in Brighton, so I'd need to get a train :/ ). That is a very interesting point, and I will explore it.

Does this mean 100% of the time? I never want to give the impression that things I say cover 100% of anything. I hate having to always say, "Generally speaking, most likely, etc."

Maybe if I rephrase this statement about bad posture it would be understood better? Bad posture is usually the result of lack of confidence. It was what I was taught in my non-verbal communication classes in college when I went for my business degree. I also got this message when going for my degree in psychology.

It's also what Marjan Steneker says on her website about Slouching Posture and its also in her article Get the Salary You Deserve.

i tend to slouch as well but i think its just habit with me.

however when im in class i do lean with my hand on my chin so it looks like im not listening or im bored which is actually not true because i have a balance problem and i feel strange if i dont lean my head on something for a long time, the teachers get the wrong impression and think i dont care what they are talking about.

I don't know about "usually" for NT's. I'm not NT, so I have no idea and honestly don't particularly care. The fact is, many on the spectrum have these sensory processing issues, so it makes more sense to tell them to look for those first rather than to tell them they have a bad attitude.

The OP also can't sit still and moves around a lot, constantly fidgeting. This fits the idea that her problem is one of body schema and visual dysfunction, not lack of confidence, whatever that is, unless the body's natural reaction to the brain's inability to process one's environment counts as "lack of confidence." Now that I think of it, this may be what NT's mean. Dunno. The term is too vague to be useful, and it's an example of unhelpful NT lingo.

Telling someone with SPD that they simply lack confidence is not going to help them. I think my approach of telling the OP to see a particular kind of professional is far more constructive as advice. And guess what? I was right! She already knows she has amblyopia. So, in light of this fact, the OP really needs to get evaluated and treated by a professional, not listen to Wall Streeter's lecture about how it's all in her head.

Isn't it funny that my father refused to understand me until I had largely cured the posture problem? Then, after I took the initiative to fix it, he apologized for years of telling me it was all due to my bad attitude. Classic NT.

I always sat hunched. I also sit with my head hung down or forward. I am not sure if I stand right but as a child I would walk and stand differently. Kids thought I was weird and showed off. I suspect it was my odd body postures that did it and is that an example of the first part on the AS criteria? I also think it was my dyspraxia too because I was playing on these bars and trying to get on and I was using the pole to get on and this other girl in third grade pointed at me and said "See that is showing off." Now that girl had grown up to be a teacher working with autistic kids because I saw it on Facebook when I found her profile. I found it all ironic because of the wrong judgements she had on me as a kid and I bet now she has students that "show off" and are "weird" because of their autism and the fact she became a special ed teacher. I am sure she has learned something.

I pretty much always slouch when I sit down. Sitting with my back straight takes far too much effort, and it always feels like I'm curving my back backwards when I do that.

I remember having some posture issues as a kid, but I have no idea if they were related to anything ASD related.. but possibly.

i slouch a lot. i look to the ground very much

It sounds like me. I can't sit in a chair normal. I have to put my feet up on the chair with my knees bent. Same thing i can't have my feet on the floor or it'll make my back hurt. I have slouched since i was very young, i always thought it was maybe back issues.
If it's a sensory issue i'm confused now and don't know what to make of it.
I probably look odd sitting in the doctors waiting room with both my feet on the chair yet my back will hurt if i don't...

I'm a horrible sloucher, but try to correct it when I remember. A big reason I've practiced yoga for so long is to ease and strengthen my back after hunching over for years.

this may be 'true' to NTs, but the connection between status and posture really falls apart in the autistic spectrum world. i feel as though i do get challenged at my job by subordinates and directors from other departments because of these cues that they are picking up on (the slouching, the leg shaking, the crossed legs, etc.), but (and i have to say this in a not so humble way) i have more letters after my name than all of them and will be running that place one day. i think if they dont realize soon that i am not weak, it will hurt them in the long run because i will fire them for their insubordination without a second thought.