# Tense muscles all over and physical awkwardness?



## whydotheystink (Mar 14, 2009)

Does anyone else feel like all of your muscles on your body are always very stiff/tense and does anyone feel like you have an awkward walk?


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

For the walking it's only when I'm really anxious, generally I feel there is a tension in my muscles most of the time. I try to stretch & do yoga to release it a bit but it still remains there. The exercise does help in the immediate moment though


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

Yeah, it happens to me when I'm too self conscious.


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## Keith (Aug 30, 2008)

My shoulders are tense all the time my neck too, actually im tense all over.


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## Peregrinus1 (Jan 9, 2009)

whydotheystink said:


> Does anyone else feel like all of your muscles on your body are always very stiff/tense and does anyone feel like you have an awkward walk?


Yeah, when I come home in the evenings and get the opportunity to relax, I notice just how tense my body was all day. I know that muscular tension is connected to depression and anxiety generally, but I have my own theory about its connection with SA. So here it is: when your mind is preoccupied with (fill in your own destructive, recurring thought pattern), you are not concentrating on your immediated surroundings and your body's interaction with it, causing you to adopt an awkward posture. Moreover, mental insecurity naturally causes you to slump into unatural positions. When your body goes through an entire day of this, or weeks/months/years, it can start to develop serious muscle pain and stiffness.

The same for walking, but I think that it's different. When you're sitting still you're in a passive state. No one has much to criticize you for, and you can just ignore all others by focusing on something else. But, when you're walking, you're actively doing something, and you are forced to ineract with the people you pass without being able to just ignore them. So, naturally for someone with SA, you begin to wonder what the people you pass are thinking about you, then you become more self concious, your body tenses, and your walk actually does become akward. 
That's what I think. Whatever the case, I feel your pain.


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## cpinney (Mar 16, 2009)

*Feeling like everyone is watching*

I know exactly what your feeling man. Sometimes I would feel like everyone is watching me and when I do make eye contact with them I would shy away or look to the ground. Sometimes my walk is also so stiff because I fear of looking side to side or moving my head around and making eye contact with someone because that would run the risk of me having to talk to that person or by me acting more shy by showing low confidence and low self-esteem. To fix this I try to think that most people are self-conscious themselves so as much as I'm worrying about myself they are doing the same which in most cases is not the issue because it is a fact that more people are just more self-conscious of the themselves than others. So now I try to be less self-conscious and more conscious about my environment than be conscious about my appearance or my negative thoughts.


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## Freiheit (Dec 8, 2008)

Peregrinus said:


> Yeah, when I come home in the evenings and get the opportunity to relax, I notice just how tense my body was all day. I know that muscular tension is connected to depression and anxiety generally, but I have my own theory about its connection with SA. So here it is: when your mind is preoccupied with (fill in your own destructive, recurring thought pattern), you are not concentrating on your immediated surroundings and your body's interaction with it, causing you to adopt an awkward posture. Moreover, mental insecurity naturally causes you to slump into unatural positions. When your body goes through an entire day of this, or weeks/months/years, it can start to develop serious muscle pain and stiffness.
> 
> The same for walking, but I think that it's different. When you're sitting still you're in a passive state. No one has much to criticize you for, and you can just ignore all others by focusing on something else. But, when you're walking, you're actively doing something, and you are forced to ineract with the people you pass without being able to just ignore them. *So, naturally for someone with SA, you begin to wonder what the people you pass are thinking about you, then you become more self concious, your body tenses, and your walk actually does become akward. *That's what I think. Whatever the case, I feel your pain.


This describes me perfectly. It sucks cos I try to walk normal and not pay attention to people around me but I still get all tense.


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## Trevley McAngsterton (Feb 11, 2011)

Has anyone tried beta-blockers for this sort of thing? Apparently a slightly older one - propanolol (good name right?) - is sometimes prescribed as an adjunct to fluoxetine/Prosac. Might be worth looking into/asking your doc about.


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## shizu (Feb 28, 2011)

*Ministry of Funny Walks*

I feel more tense and clumsy when I'm most aware of the act of walking while I'm actually doing it. When people look my way I think they're thinking critically of me, that I look weird/uncomfortable. I think I walk like a robot, very direct, not stopping to absorb my surroundings, eyes glazed and slightly out of focus so I can avoid eye contact (probably why I'm so clumsy, lol). Often I will walk right past people I know because I try not to see what's around me; someone will have to come right up to me or say my name for me to know they're there because all I can think of is getting to where I'm going without making a spectacle of myself en route.

I used to wonder what to do with my arms when I'm walking and I'd feel a lot more relaxed if I had bags to carry so I wouldn't look all nervous and twitchy. I'm not quite that bad now, probably because I have to walk all day at work and have got used to it, but I definitely still feel better if I have a prop of some kind.

Another thing that makes me anxious is getting in people's way which I think I do a lot - you know, when you do that penguin waddle thing with another person trying to get past you...so awkward. I usually go bright red and and apologize because I feel like I'm the one to get in their way not the other way around.


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## changeforthebetter (Feb 15, 2011)

+1 for tense shoulders


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## Paars (Feb 27, 2011)

I used to have this.

Now with my current medication called Baclofen, its gone.
Its officially a muscle relaxant, but it seems to relax menthally as well. For me it does anyway, already in low doses.


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## Severijn (Nov 4, 2010)

When I had sad I remember something similar yes. What worked for me was imagining a strand or cord pulling me upwards by the head. That made me walk a little more straight and less awkward. I don't have it now anymore luckily.


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## sediment (Oct 20, 2011)

I'm always tense X_x . It was the only way I knew to be since a kid, now I can notice it and lower my shoulders slightly and think, "Ohh" that's what it feels like to be relaxed, but it feels so unnatural, and I do the "straight awkward walk". Don't really know what to do with my arms, and my arms do like a half time and it looks like I'm walking in slow motion lol, I've tried kava kave, chamomille, 5htop, st johns wort, weed, you name it, in the same boat.......... Only thing that relieves me is vicodin, but that was just supposed to be for my wisdom teeth and I ran out of it over a year ago, drinking doesn't help either


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## shana (Mar 9, 2009)

Yeah, I do. I guess most of the time I'm too self-conscious.


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## Aly (Nov 30, 2010)

Always


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## shelbster18 (Oct 8, 2011)

I always feel like my muscles are stiff. And I do feel like I have an awkward walk, too. It makes me feel tired all of the time.


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## the dead poet (Feb 1, 2012)

Good evening all, pleased to meet you indeed 

This thread in itself was what spurred the motivation within me to sign up to the forums as it addresses what I suspect may be seed of my current plight in regards to anxiety/social anxiety. On Monday last I experienced one of the worst days of anxiety that I've had to endure in a number of years and much of it was borne as a result of self-consciousness on account of muscle tension, as my muscles are now that tight/tense that I can no longer walk in a straight line and the mental anguish of witnessing 99% of people blatantly staring/pointing/laughing at me (especially women...) as they pass me by is playing utter havoc on my mental health.

I sourced out some of the best sites I could find containing instructions on stretches and one in particular has caught my eye and so I thought it prudent to share: http://www.drbookspan.com/NeckPainArticle.html

The page aforementioned contains a number of other links to exercises that will work on other muscles in your body too, but the one posted above mainly address the upper body - paying close attention to the likes of the shoulders/rotator cuffs, pectoral muscles in the chest and - most importantly (aside from the legs) in terms of walking fluidly and straight - the back.

I'll likely edit this in a moment to elaborate further but my battery is about to waste and I want to post what I've written before it gets deleted for the second time which will undoubtedly nudge me dangerously closer to a total, unmistakable nervous breakdown.


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## the dead poet (Feb 1, 2012)

Good evening all, pleased to meet you indeed 

This thread in itself was what spurred the motivation within me to sign up to the forums as it addresses what I suspect may be seed of my current plight in regards to anxiety/social anxiety. On Monday last I experienced one of the worst days of anxiety that I've had to endure in a number of years and much of it was borne as a result of self-consciousness on account of muscle tension, as my muscles are now that tight/tense that I can no longer walk in a straight line and the mental anguish of witnessing 99% of people blatantly staring/pointing/laughing at me (especially women...) as they pass me by is playing utter havoc on my mental health.

I sourced out some of the best sites I could find containing instructions on stretches and one in particular has caught my eye and so I thought it prudent to share: drbookspan[.]com/NeckPainArticle. html

The page aforementioned contains a number of other links to exercises that will work on other muscles in your body too, but the one posted above mainly address the upper body - paying close attention to the likes of the shoulders/rotator cuffs, pectoral muscles in the chest and - most importantly (aside from the legs) in terms of walking fluidly and straight - the back.

I'll likely edit this in a moment to elaborate further but my battery is about to waste and I want to post what I've written before it gets deleted for the second time which will undoubtedly nudge me dangerously closer to a total, unmistakable nervous breakdown.


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## Livvy (Feb 1, 2012)

Ugh, the awkward walk thing. All the time. And the more I think about it, the more awkward it becomes. Thing is, I have no clue if it is actually awkward or if I'm imagining it.


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## apx24 (Jan 31, 2012)

Yeah, it happens all the time if i feel uncomfortable, or am around someone who makes me feel uncomfortable. I always tense up and my posture becomes hunchback-like


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## flyturtle (Oct 18, 2011)

Yeah it's embarrassing. People notice it too :[


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## tom649 (Jan 18, 2010)

I used to get that akward walk all the time only when I'd get really nervous, I always hoped it was in my head until people started commenting on my walk and told me I walk funny, now I've got to a point where I can't walk normally at all(even when I'm alone). It's like i forgot how to walk.... soo frustrating


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## the alley cat (May 17, 2012)

Whenever I walk down the street (or anywhere in public for that matter) I feel more comfortable if I'm carrying something, like a backpack or books in my hand. If I don't, I feel panicky. I also tend to not swing my arms and always look ahead. However, in the last few months, I've been able to walk more naturally, and be less self-conscious. Although I still get tense when I walk, it has gotten better. I realized that by walking the same route each day to and from school I was maintaining a subconscious habit: I associated walking down a certain street as a place that gets me nervous. So I started going on different walks in quieter neighborhoods (where few people could see me), and tried to have more relaxed walks. Then, when I got back on my normal route, I'd try to continue walking in this relaxed state. Although I'm not completely over this habit yet, it has helped. Next, I'll try walking in the quieter streets without carrying anything, and hopefully after I could do this on busier streets.


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## lunagiovanni (Mar 28, 2013)

I know a lot of people don't like trying the natural stuff but you could try eating more/taking magnesium, it'll loosen up your muscles and make you feel less tense.
I've been doing it for awhile and it makes going out in public easier because I don't jerk around as much like I used to. I got to the point where I was so anxious about being around people I would twitch and fall over on things 
you're not alone on this though.
They say it's supposed to help you sleep too, which could help with tension. I've never been much of a sleeper though.


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## marisaaa (Apr 15, 2015)

I tense up, and cannot relax only when im walking in front of someone 😐😣, its really annoying because i cannot, whatsoever, relax. I feel as if I walk weird and i try to walk with better posture, but it only makes it worse (especially when i walk in front of my boyfriend)


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