T-Rex Arms?

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Does anyone else do "t-rex arms", where you hold your arms up at chest height? Not intentionally, but just as a natural way of positioning your arms. I subconsciously do it all the time because I have no idea what to do with my hands and arms when I'm not actively using them.

Yes. I compensate by ALWAYS carrying something, even if I'm alone in my house. No matter where I walk I pick up a pen, a piece of paper, a paperclip, a piece of lint from the floor, or SOMETHING .... just so I don't have empty hands. I figure T-Rexes look better if they're actually carrying something so they have a reason to hold their arms up. I feel like a freak with my arms hung at my sides. I have no idea what to do with them.

Note to self: Constantly carrying things around, every time you move, does not work well with executive dysfunction.

I'm always losing things that I moved unnecessarily just for the sake of having something in my hands.

Another curious thing: my hands are ALWAYS curled in fists. I don't keep my fingers out straight.

Yes, I do which is rather strange enough it's usually not intentional.

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john wayne.
and I had a friend who always said he( my friend) looked like "circus bear" because of his arms and the way he carried himself. I found it endearing.

I used to do raptor hands but after a lot of mocking I've mostly learned to not.

Yes! I've been doing it for so long that I never really questioned it till just now, even after I noticed that's a bit unusual, not many years ago.

I don't do it all the time. It depends on the circumstance. Two common situations I can think of atm seem to be when I'm anticipating the possibility of needing to use my hands for something, or when I'm holding my limbs close to myself for comfort or keeping warm.

I feel like perhaps my heightened sense of alarm/insecurity might play a part. Holding your hands up to your chest is a pretty instinctual defensive posture, in addition to ducking your head down, folding your shoulders inwards and leaning forward.

Something perhaps interesting to note is that I also tend to keep my hands folded down very often, like during the 't-rex' arms pose. No idea why I do that. Might be linked to self-comfort or insecurity maybe? I don't know. But I remember seeing it very often with people who have more severe cases of autism, like non-vocal folks who struggle with communication and motor skills, and other people who have congenital or neurological musculature issues.

Yes.

I hold myself really rigid.

My arms and hands are always on the side, like a good soldier LOL

This tends to inform people that there's "something wrong with me."

Yes, I do this very often, and I call the the same thing! It's most common when I'm looking for something. I'll realize at some point that I'm walking around with my wrists pressed up against my chest. In that situation, I'm usually taking giant steps too, and swinging my head in big arcs looking around. It can also happen when I'm thinking hard, or happy.

I'm tempted to say that it can happen for me during any period of increased energy, concentration or agitation, but that's not quite right. It doesn't happen if I'm doing something highly cognitive like working on math problems. It doesn't happen when I'm writing fiction, but does happen when I'm imagining scenarios. I think it's more likely to happen if I'm cold.

T-rex arms are one of the smaller signs that helped confirm the diagnosis for me. I've seen other autistic people do it as well, with many different symptom profiles. When I was in high school, one kid had autism with significant cognitive deficits; he walked around like this all the time.

I'm careful not to do it in front of others, but if it's just me I don't mind. It feels more - comfortable in a way I can't describe.

I will cross my arms across my chest(negative signal)...or clasp my hands behind my lower back (confident at ease signal)..not sure what t-rex arms would be, nah can't say i do... i will have 2 check for that