I have noticed that most people walk with their arms swinging back and forth but there are some people who walk with their arms to their sides and they don’t move at all side to side. Is this some type of brain dysfunction?
Monty Python’s The Institute of Silly Walks.
It’s not a brain dysfunction. Many “normal” people don’t swing their arms much or at all. However, there are several neurological syndromes where this is a symptom. Observations of gait and “poor association of movement” (awkwardly swinging or immobile arms during walking) are noted in any good neurological exam
I have noticed this too. Some people seem to never develop that arm swingin, counter balancing, gait that serves us so well. These same people often never realise their lack of walking skills until they join one of the Services and have to learn to march. It seems that they simply cannot march with opposite arm to leg swinging high with pride.
I would be interested in any further insights into what causes this.
Just don’t mention Raquel Welch, or she’ll beat the crap out of you.
Maybe it has something more to do with size than brains? I’m quite thin and can walk at a quick pace with my hands in my pockets. I learned to march in band in highschool, so I know I can do the arm swinging thing, I just don’t much. However I’ve noticed that the larger the person, the more pronounced the swing. Maybe the more overweight you are the more you need to swing to keep your balance.
Actually you are right (kind of) with regard to Parkinson’s. Sometimes an early symptom is difficulty in walking caused by not swinging the arms. Because arm swing helps balance it is essential to get the feet moving forward. The arm swing is called an associated movement. Associated movements are so ingrained that when we put a foot forward we move the arm as well. Sometimes these movements may be lost in Parkinson disease. This causes the sufferers pace to become progressively shorter.
So if you find yourself losing the ability to swing your arms, assuming you once did, when you walk something could be wrong.
Just recently I saw a TV program that examined this issue. It wasn’t so much with adults, but with little kids, and their walking style or other motor skills serving as an indicator for various mental disorders. I don’t have a cite right now, but maybe someone else recalls seeing the program as well?
For those of you who know of studies associating the non-swinging with problems, a question. Is it that those with the illness have a high likelihood of arm swinging trouble or that those with arm swining trouble have a high likelihood of illness?
And please, don’t just answer “yes” as my coworker always does.
It might be a symptom of having learned to walk poorly. I have literally had to teach my 6 year old to keep her arms next to her body (but swinging them) when running, else she would flail them all around. Ditto one of my four year olds (but she, at least, I would have understood, as she didn’t walk until 27 months and is stlll in physical therapy for low muscle tone and other issues). You might think using the arms for balance while walking a thin line is natural, too, and maybe it is, but my one daughter hasn’t learned that yet either. She wants to keep her hands directly next to her body.
It’s been my experience that the arm-swingers are the deficient ones. They learn about their inadequacy the first time they study any physical activity that requires them to move their arms and legs independently. All of a sudden, forced to be true bipeds instead of merely two-legged quadrupeds, life gets rough for them. Those of us who have actually mastered bipedalism and are not enslaved to swinging our arms around in time to our legs do not have such a disability.
I have a long pace and little to no arm swing. Just to annoy my wife, I like to hop up onto narrow surfaces and trot along them at normal walking pace. Sometimes, I go backwards and forwards just to be even more annoying. For grins, I’ll even play a recorder or simple transverse flute while doing this–no arm swinging there. She would fall off, even though she swings her arms when she walks.
I think what we’re seeing here is yet another example of the “Duh, hyuk hyuk hyuk, ifffn most people ain’t a-doin’ it, dere’s gotta be some total INFEEEEERIYORITY associated wif it!” phenomenon.
I’m certainly not thin, but I’m not an arm-swinger.
You’re misrepresenting me Dogface by cutting the quote, I specified if you used to swing your arms and lose the ability it could be a problem. I’m happy to accept that some people walk without swinging their arms, they like you are freaks.
Hey, you work with my dad?
Anwyay, just to add to the thread, I do know that changes in gait can be a sign of brian dysfunction in animals as well as humans. I was watching an episode of “Funniest Pet Vidoes” with my aunt, a veterinarian, and for half the videos, she could diagnose either a stroke or some other neurological disorder to explain the “amusing” behavior. (such as dog that would only fetch things by walking backwards) Sure made the show a lot less entertaining…
I have it on very good authority (a crazy homeless guy) that swinging your arms causes arthritis. At least, that’s what he was yelling at me as I was walking through a parking lot about 5 years ago.
No, I don’t have anything really good to add.
Yes, I needed to tell someone about the crazy homeless guy.