Muscle developmentm in aspies.

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I think that autism is linked to lack of interest in physical activities and not muscles weakness.... *Corrected*

Well autism can be linked to hypotonia, which is low muscle tone (not strength), but certainly not necessarily so. It can also be linked with hypertonia, though that's a lot rarer from what I know.

But hypotonia does not equal little strength, but due to the condition, reduced strength is usually accompanying hypotonia. Due to that the muscle don't contract as in a person with normal muscle tone, there's less strength behind the action. Fine and gross motor development will be very delayed if the hypotonia is severe.

Autism and interest in physical activities?

A person with an ASD may have less interest in sports than peers, but that is only natural if taken into account that to play most sports, team work and socialisation is required and that children and teenagers (usually males) pick up sports as interest because that's our usual cultural expectations.

Girls who're into football (soccer) are just considered odd. Boys who dislike football will be ridiculed.

Physical activities generally require a circle of friends or acquaintances that will also participate in the activity. At least that's how it works for the majority of non-autistic people.

I'm autistic and always had an interest in any physical activity and sports. Matial arts, dancing, football, running, badminton were my favourites.
Needless to say, I could not participate in any as a child because of my ASD. But one would guess that in my most autistic times I'd have been less interested in sports/not interested if autism was linked to less interest in physical activities.

Well put, Sora... hit some very salient points.


M.

I'm extremely weak, and always have been. Most females could beat me up. However, someone else mentioned their son is extremely flexible, and actually my legs are extremely flexible like that. Throughout Elementary School, just to freak people out I would put my legs all the way behind my head, to the point where they were behind my middle back without any effort at all. People thought it was the most amazing thing, and I've never met anyone else who can do anything close to that, so I suppose it was pretty crazy. I would even sleep like that sometimes. In middle school and high school, if someone who knew me from elementary school saw me, they'd go "Can you still do that thing with your legs?" so I'd demonstrate that I could, and they'd scream. It was quite amusing. I also sit in a way that's impossible for most people. I've always sat like that at my school desk unconsciously and people would look at me with their jaw open and go, "How do you do that?!" and I'd just shrug. A lot of people tried to move their legs like me, and usually ended up hurting themselves. XD

I'm just now learning that this is all connected - the extreme flexibility, muscle tone and, yes, autism. As I said before, not all autistics have the issue, but many do. My son's OT was explaining to me that having loose joints is also a reason kids like my son squirm and move and touch so much: they need additional tactile imput just to know where they are physically and spatially in the world, because with the loose joints not all the signals from the nerve endings get through to the brain. It made so much sense to me.

Someone somewhere else in this forum wrote about several medical issues that can be connected to what she referred to as hypomobility. I think it is wise to be aware of them, so that you can work on prevention. The condition can also create issues with writing and other fine motor skills, and the poster who told me about hypomobility actually has splints for her fingers that help with writing.

We've worked hard to keep my son active, and find things he can do and enjoy that will also benefit him physically. But his muscles and his joints are what they are, we can't change that, we can just help him learn to stay as healthy as possible. He loves hiking and camping and playing soccer.

It was my son, by the way, who learned to sit by doing a center split, as a posted earlier. He can also put his feet behind his head, but they never have reached all the way to the middle of his back.

To those who want to attribute the difference to level of interest, I think you are wrong. My son was clearly born with the joint issues. Muscle tone can be combated in part through sheer determination (my son actually sat up very early as an infant) but it's still a steeper curve to climb for more AS than NT's. My son has worked really, really work at playing soccer, but it has taken years to get where he is, and that is just to be at a level he is contributing to and not burdening the team. There is no "always" here, just a very definite correlation with frequency. If you are reading and listening on these forums, you will see and acknowledge the correlation. I don't see how anyone could not.

no. I'm awsome at piano

Hmm. I'm the opposite. I'm fairly strong but inflexable. I have above average muscle tone in my arms and legs but below average core strength.

I was never much for sports because they focused on
social interaction
dexterity

as being a bit clumsy (living in a right-handed world doesn't help), it is predicted that we live shorter lives, but like any average, there's always a standard deviation (I'm a non-standard deviation...

It depends on whether you choose to be. When I was single between marriages, I decided to go to the gym, and do free weights and machines. Over time I could bench-press 250lb on the machine, fewer on the free weights (because you have to balance it, and not cave your chest in...

I regularly lift 100lb + printers all day long, so while I may not have a lot of stamina, it's not something that I can't do. So it can be done, it's just tedious and wearying.

Sorry to be the thread necromancer, but I really don't like starting new threads if I can find one about the same thing.

Anyways, after reading through some of the replies on the first page, it seems alot of us have slow muscle development, though I was thinking it would be the other way around since it feels the opposite with me. I don't play any sports, and I rarely exercise, but for some reason I have pretty decent muscular growth, particuarly in the arms and legs. Normally I wouldn't notice something like that, but a couple of times my cousins have asked me if I work out at all, and I (somewhat embarrassed) admitted I don't. It's the same with the AS trait of lacking dexterity, which I seem to at least semi-defy. For example, when I feel comfortable with my surroundings and the people I'm with (assuming I'm with any), I'm pretty dexterous. However, when I'm with a large group of people I don't know very well (gym), I'm too overcome with anxiety to the point where I'm incredibly clumsy and can't follow what's happening. Maybe muscular development in people with AS is linked to how much social anxiety they undergo... So those of us who are thrown into social situations more often, and therefore experience more anxiety have slower muscle development, while those of us who experience less social anxiety due to a lack of social interaction, have better muscular development?

I've had very strong calves and other leg muscles most of my life since I always loved to run around as a kid, and to this day prefer my bicycle or simply walking as my local transportation, but I struggled to develop any of my other muscles until very recently. I have a very physical job now since May, and my arms have developed quite a lot because of it.

However I've noticed my whole life, I never enjoyed exercising. I always hear that exercise causes the brain to release endorphins or some other pleasurable sensation, but for all of the exercise I've done (even the few times I lifted weights at the gym), I seem to be unable to obtain those pleasing effects from that activity. That's kept me from really feeling motivated to keep up with that.

I have very weak arms when it comes to lifting things. I'm ok when it comes to pushing/pulling things but when it comes to lifting something up I have no strength whatsoever.

Noa x

I found this statement very interesting. I've had a number of problems related to tendons and ligaments, particularly in my wrists and forearms. I've had tendonitis in both wrists as a result of doing BMX freestyle riding (a lot of tricks require carrying a load with the wrists at odd angles) while in high school. I had a real bad case of strained ligaments in my left forearm from guitar playing when I was still new to it; it was 3 weeks before I could fully close my hand. For the past few months I've been dealing with some "tennis elbow"-like pain. I don't know if it's the same thing, but I've also had a detached quadricep (NOT pleasant!). As I write this I realize something. All these injuries were on the left side of my body. Interesting.

I never had any delay in it, I was excellent in gymnastics, was the best climber, MAYBE, in school, and had a healthy lifestyle. I can remember being "Defeated" by one of my relatives, (He is 15) but I managed to get him eventually, but he's a big beef, muscular build, trains every day, the strongest in his class, but I'm not so strong in my arms as I used to be, several chicks have beaten me in arm wrestling, but my legs is that of superiority, I have great endurance, strength and has received 8th place in the school marathon.

I'm very flexible and I gain in strength and speed quickly, I guess I'm the complete opposite of most people here.

In terms of muscle development, I've never been someone whom looks like they spent 7hrs at Gold's Gym..but, can do things of physical nature though yet, I'm not stating I try to move super heavy objects all over the place with no trouble for, based on external appearance alone, I'd be seen as having the upper body of a praying mantis--long arms and the lower body of crane--long legs though, since my musculature is not that great, I tend to stay away from wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts.. I know this sounds totally absurd and outlandish but, I've never cared for being called names nor being mocked by anyone so, I simply try to live my life in a reasonably calm manner..

I am incredibly flexible because I spent a lot of time as a child laying on the floor and stretching myself into different positions. I found it more entertaining and less over stimulating than social interaction.

I have relatively well developed muscles in my upper abdomen and arms because those are the areas that I work out the most in my martial arts class. The class gives me a time I can focus on this and a safe place where I can make an exit if I get overwhelmed.

The reason I have never been in shape really is because I find that to work out is incredibly over stimulating and causes a panic reaction. When I'm biking longer distances, I find myself having to count my peddle strokes to get through the activity.

If anyone is like me, I think the idea of working out is too broad. Lower body one day, upper body the next, many different types of exercises for every part of the body. I really just need more specific focus to be able to accomplish something. It gets overwhelming otherwise.