Rigid awkward postures?

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outerborough girl

this is exactly me ! !! !


I don't seem to be able to sit up straight. I can sopmetimes do it for a few seconds if I force myself, but it takes a heck of a lot of concentration, and is highly uncomfortable. Thus, I'm not generally inclined to bother with that.
I really don't feel comfortable standing in one place, unless I'm leaning against something. I can stand without leaning, but it's not comfortable for me. I'm inclined to lean against, or put my hand on something for support without even noticing I'm doing it. I've gotten yelled at walking through metal detectors, because I'll have my hand up against the side of the thing when waking through it, and I won't notice I'm doing it. Another time, I was in an art museum where there was mirror exhibit, and a museum. A museum employee yelled at me because I had my hand on the mirror in fromt of me, and I wasn't supposed to touch. I didn't notice I had my hand there until the guy yelled at me. I was just instinctively steadying myself againsat the nearest solid item. I also tend to stand slighlty lopsided with one leg bent, and the other foot jutted out several inches in front of me.

Actually, I'm not. I'm shorter than average, which makes it especially strange that I need to fold myself up in various bizzare ways to feel steady and comfortable. I have significant gravitational insecurity, and a very poor sense of balance that forces me to position myself in various awkward ways to compensate. I suspect that I also have rather poor muscle tone, especially in my upper body, which is why it's impossible for me to sit up straight for more than a few seconds. I also find myself struggling to lift anything heavy, and I've had numerous people comment on my significant lack of upper body strength. Folding myself up in various awkward looking positions is a heck of a lot easier than holding myself up like a normal person.
I could have done with some heavy duty occupational and physical therapy as a child. That didn't happen. I was never diagnosed with AS, as it wasn't widely recognized when I was a child, and I'm also female. I was on labelled with plenty of other things, though, and I was on an IEP. However, I never received PT, and I received very little OT. It wasn't until I was ten that my neurologist suggested that I should be evaluated by an OT, as I still couldn't throw or catch a ball (at ten!). This same neurologist had been observing for years that I had severe problems with coordination. I recall being seven or eight, and hearing my mother saying to the neurologist, "So her coordination is poor," and the neurologist replying, "her coordination is very poor." Still, it wasn't until I was ten that I was finally evaluated by an OT. I saw an OT for a little over a year. Before long, it was time for my to make the transition from elementary school to junior high. I was managing reasonably well academically (with a LOT of support from my Mom) so I was declassified. My IEP was thrown away, and I stopped receiving all services, including OT. I imagine that I wouldn't be graceful under any circumstances, but perhaps I'd be less obviously awkward physically if I'd received more help as a child. I suppose I'll never know. *shrugs*
In any case, it's interesting to read of other people's experiences. Apparently, I'm not quite as an unusual as I previously suspected.

I freeze in all kinds of positions all the time. I am diagnosed with an autism-related parkinsonlike movement disorder like the one described:

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/176/4/357

http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/behavi ... elook.html

http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/1060/1225

Catatonia (a neurological movement disorder not a psychiatric one) has been reported in up to 6% of autistic people in some studies. (I recall 11% in another one.)

If I just unconsciously do it, is it considered a movement disorder? I am beginning to get concerned because since I wrote this thread I am more aware of the postures. I know that while I am busy my left hand ends up in a fist and my arm bent so that the fist is pretty much resting on my left breast (I know! ) i will notice after it has been like that for a while I can straighten my left arm and put it next to me, but that feels weird, and actually physically uncomfortable. I can control the movement of my hand and arm most of the time, but this posture seems to happen on its own without me noticing until later, and I don''t know when it started. I am sure I have been doing it a while, but I really don't know how long.

I have restless leg syndrome, which is called a movement disorder,but it is mild. I dont have uncontrolled movement with that either.

hunch my shoulders up against either side of my head, like a spastic shrug. usually while I'm sitting at work. after a few minutes I begin to wonder why my neck is hurting, and then I notice: "damn, I'm doing that again."

fix it, but I rapidly wind up in the same posture.

See what my cat is doing in my avatar? That is what I do with my hands- exactly.

ProfessorAspie- that is also what I do. I change my stance/posture, but then find I snapped right back like a rubber band!

I'm not sure. I slouch when I walk. I try to stand up straight but then I start slouching again.
I seem to slouch really low when I sit down too.

I don't know why but I alway am "rigid" people say I look tense all the time even though I'm really relaxed.

Huh, interesting about the curled up hand thing. I've had something like that happening in the last few years or so, but only in my left arm/hand. Sometimes that arm hurts a little, I guess maybe from being tensed up a bit too often. Have no idea why it's doing that.

Also have the rag-doll posture and incoordination. I've been using a cane lately (initially for an unrelated reason), which had unexpected side effect of reduced anxiety from just standing upright. I didn't realize that 1) I swayed that much (though my vestibular sense is really hyper-sensitive), and 2) that it was stressing me out as much as it was (and also disrupting my thought processes). I think it helps with pacing/planning movements too.

this for me is one of the interesting things i can only find out from a forum.

i've always sat on one foot or the other with my knee bent. much of my time in school i also propped my head with the opposite arm. (when i got tired i would switch the arm & the leg.) i kind of tried to stop doing this, later in life, not very consciously, but more as a part of the blending-in that i was learning in other ways (such as speaking in the vernacular--up to the age of 10 or so i spoke in excruciatingly correct grammar & pronunciation).

i still sit that way when i'm alone; & since i've been married there is only one posture i can sleep with my wife in the same bed using.

also, whenever i have to stand for more than a few seconds, i balance on one foot, with only the toe of the other to balance, & the other knee bent. i've always done this, & i think the necessity of focussing on finding a center of gravity & maintaining it, helps my feelings of being exposed in an open area.

like a castle in the mind.

I have noticed that I never feel physically relaxed and I am very inflexible I always hated PE class in school because of it...with all that stretching and such that I failed at. Also if I am somewhere where theres a lot of people I probably come off as very uncomfortable especially since I tend to sit in rather stiff positions and really do not like being touched or having someone stand or sit too close to me. If I am with people I am comfortable with it is not quite that extreme but if I don't know them I try and avoid being too close as I hate being surrounded by hordes of people. Also apparently my eyes don't show expressions normally....one time someone noticed I was laughing so hard my eyes where watering but they still looked expressionless.

Yes, quite often.

As far as my posture goes, I am most comfortable like this:





Sorry for the really crappy angles and camera quality (and the fact that my dark gray shirt looks purple); I literally took this two minutes ago by means of my webcam after seeing this thread.

I sit with my left leg angled and my left foot resting on the upper half of my right leg, and my left hand in a fist under my chin.

I know that sitting in a 'w' shape on the floor can be a sign of autism in children (which I do sometimes), but I am wondering if the same sort of knee-bending sitting that I do is similar to the 'w' sitting found in children with ASDs, because I've seen a couple of other people with AS who sit similarly to me.

I didn't read this post before I posted mine.