People experiencing anxiety and inhibition have more activity in the right side of the brain, causing them to walk in a leftward trajectory.
When we're nervous, the body activates the fight or flight response, which causes a number of body-wide changes that give the body an emergency boost when in danger. This boost can affect the muscles in the legs, making them feel weak.
In sum, increased fear and anxiety can lead to stiffening movement and altered postural control, gait, head movements and visual search strategies. All of this can impede balance.
People who are stressed may feel as if their walking or natural movement is strange, therefore they begin to walk improperly to alleviate this sensation. However, because your feet are intended to function in a specific manner, it frequently results in foot pain.
It can cause fluid to build up, thus leading to swelling and reduced mobility; but, it's also worth considering that studies have linked stress with an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease.
Another common symptom of chronic anxiety is weakness in the muscles, most commonly experienced in the legs and sometimes the arms. During the fight or flight response, the body is preparing to take action against danger.
Under extreme stress, duress or heightened anxiety, the following physiological changes will occur: Loss of fine motor skills. This will typically occur after your heart rate exceeds 115 bpm. The loss of fine motor skills results in you having to rely solely upon your gross motor skills.
Changes in gait that come on suddenly can be signs of a stroke or serious problem. Anxiety may accompany these symptoms. If you develop the sudden onset of gait disturbances or the inability to stand, seek immediate medical attention. Check in with your doctor any time you are experiencing worrisome symptoms.
Gait and posture disorders are common among psychiatric patients. The reasons for these disorders are many, and include the illness itself, medication, and the psychosocial context [2]. Motor behavior is regulated by emotions and is an integral indicator of mental illness [3].
General causes of abnormal gait may include: Arthritis of the leg or foot joints. Conversion disorder (a mental disorder) Foot problems (such as a callus, corn, ingrown toenail, wart, pain, skin sore, swelling, or spasms)
Losing your balance while walking, or feeling imbalanced, can result from: Vestibular problems. Abnormalities in your inner ear can cause a sensation of a floating or heavy head and unsteadiness in the dark. Nerve damage to your legs (peripheral neuropathy).
What is a balance disorder? A balance disorder is a condition that makes you feel unsteady or dizzy. If you are standing, sitting, or lying down, you might feel as if you are moving, spinning, or floating. If you are walking, you might suddenly feel as if you are tipping over.
What is Crippling Anxiety? Crippling anxiety is a severe form of anxiety that can significantly interfere with the ability to function in day-to-day life. It's characterized by persistent excessive worry, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep anxiety, or sleep disturbances.
Psychomotor change is a core symptom of depression and one of the criteria in diagnosing depressive disorders. Research suggests depressed individuals demonstrate deviations in gait, or walking, compared to non-depressed controls.
Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can boost your mood if you have depression, and it's especially useful for people with mild to moderate depression.
Dizziness Can Be a Symptom of an Anxiety Disorder
Your breathing changes – when you feel anxious, you typically start to take in quick, deep breaths. This reduces the levels of carbon dioxide in your blood, which can cause dizziness as well as light-headedness, nausea and tingling in your hands and/or feet.
Staying active, finding ways to control your breathing, talking out your anxieties, and coming up with ways to de-escalate stressful situations can all provide relief from dizziness caused by anxiety.
Just as stress can cause elevation in blood pressure, palpitations and tremors, stress can similarly manifest as disorders of movement. Understandably, the diagnosis of psychogenic (stress-induced) movement disorder can be a delicate matter both for physicians as well as patients.
Muscle tension is a common side effect of stress because your muscles contract when your fight or flight system is triggered. Over time, this can cause pain, discomfort, tension headache, migraines and trouble with mobility.
Stress and anxiety can profoundly impact the physical body and cause many weird sensations that you may not associate with anxiety such as prickling, burning skin or nausea.
Often, the cause of weakness or pain in the legs when walking is a narrowing of the space around nerves that carry signals to the lower part of the body. When symptoms affect your legs, the condition is typically lumbar spinal stenosis.