Questions about hand flapping

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Is hand flapping that thing where you fling your wrist in such a way that your thumb strikes your middle or index finger, making a remarkable snapping sound? On those occasions where I have done that, most people go "wtf how did you do that?" or "ouch!" because I guess they think its the sound of bone cracking/snapping. My other question is: why is this mentioned alot when referring to autism in general? I don't get how its a common stim amongst us, unless there's some physiological reason behind it.

I don't like my fingers touching when I flap my hands. I do like a good 180* swivel, which requires cooperation between the wrist and the forearm.

I have two styles of flapping--up-and-down flapping and 180 degree turn flapping. There are lots of different varieties.

Physiological reason for hand flapping? It releases energy/stress. I don't think anyone knows much beyond that and that is just a theory (albeit, widely accepted...).

To your first question: maybe. Do you do it sort of involuntarily? Is it relaxing?

I think I used to do it sort of involuntarily. Now I only do it to surprise people. And that is quite rare.

I think that Stephen Shore does what you are describing, anyway he does some kind of noisy hand thing that is unusual. He's described it, but I haven't seen him do it.

Hand flapping that most autistics do is more like, bend your elbows so that your hands are a little above elbow height and shake your hands so that they sort of move freely from the wrist.... or the flapping could be more like doing an oval with your thumbs (rotating your wrist so that your thumbs make draw a kind of oval in the air) but do it with your hands up near your shoulders. My ASD kid did the second one quite a bit, but also the first one. There aren't just two or three ways to flap, it's kind of all the versions of a person shaking their arms or hands vaguely like a bird flapping or like if you had a spider on your hand and were trying to shake it off.

Larry Arnold has a video of himself (on his blog) doing some hand movements that are like what I do. He does the hand movements so that the right and left are choreographed together and it looks like hand dancing or something. He sort of jokes about how his stereotypical movement is now an art....

I don't usually flap but I do lots of sort of odd movements with my hands, tensing them and squeezing them.

The reason is probably about proprioception, that is your body wants to know where your hands are in space, so moving them in certain ways defines to your brain where your hands are. Sitting on your hands works, too, I mean to tell your brain where your hands are.

If you look on youtube, you might find some videos of autistic people flapping (in different ways).

I do it side to side. It's stress related for me, good stress even sometimes. It's mentioned a lot because it is obvious and superficial.

I only recently remembered that I used to do this and still do sometimes, but it wasn't a compulsive thing. I like the feeling, I think it's something to do with the momentum of the flesh or blood, like alternating pressure on either side of your hand.

I don't generally stim, except sometimes I can't sleep unless I'm kicking (or flapping in the same ways as above) my feet.