quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
This drives me nuts when I'm sitting on a bench in a public place and someone on the other end is jiggling up and down, the whole bench is vibrating and suddenly it's hard to concentrate on your book, etc. (Sorry.)

It's almost always a male thing. I've hardly ever seen any women do it. Usually I think of it as a sign of impatience, someone wanting to get a move on, as it seems to happen while people are waiting for something. As soon as something happens, i.e. the bus moves on/the person they're waiting for turns up, etc etc it tends to stop.

---

[Hand up] Female jiggler here! Drove my parents mental when I lived at home. I don't think it's a sign of impatience, or a sign of anything, much - I tend to agree with Ken - it's just a thing, not a symptom of a thing. What's interesting about it is that it starts unconsciously, but if requested, I can of course stop. Until I start thinking about something else. Then it starts again. Sometimes I can head this stop/start thing off by switching to flexing my toes instead when someone asks me to stop. That doesn't usually make the table jiggle and so goes uncommented...
 

---

Posted by CuppaT (# 10523) on :
 
My husband is a leg jiggler. Sigh. Sometimes I scoot away from the table a little so it doesn't rattle me. I am a leg sitter. It always drove my mom nuts that I wouldn't sit with two legs in front of me, but would tuck my right leg up under me when I sat down. Old lady now, and I still do!
 

---

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
Another female fidget here. The upside is that apparently the fidgety among us can burn up to 200 calories a day more than people who sit still.
 

---

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :
 
Glad I am not alone!

It is definitely not about impatience, although I can see that it might appear as such. As to stopping - I can, but I find it very frustrating to have to stop, and it might mean that I have to twitch my fingers instead - it is a need that has to be got out.

However, when I am lying back sleeping in my chair, often I will jiggle my foot. Then, when I stop and keep my foot totally still, there is a wonderful sense of calm though my body.

And I do realise how irritating it can be for others. But we don't do it to irritate! Honest.
 

---

Posted by The Phantom Flan Flinger (# 8891) on :
 
Leg jiggler extraordinaire at your service.

Also occasional compulsive noise-maker.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
As to stopping - I can, but I find it very frustrating to have to stop, and it might mean that I have to twitch my fingers instead - it is a need that has to be got out.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I can, but I find it very frustrating to have to stop, and it might mean that I have to twitch my fingers instead - it is a need that has to be got out.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by bib:
Someone told me that many leg jigglers are actually on drugs - is there any evidence for this?

---

I'm not aware of being on drugs - although it would explain an awful lot
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Daughter-Unit has always been a leg jiggler. Once I figured out that it didn't seem to do any harm, it never bothered me. It does bother and even annoy others, though! I remember a relative put her hand on D-U's leg to make her stop. She and I both looked at her and she took her hand away, changed the subject, and never did it again.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
My dad used to be a leg-jiggler, and yes, it drove my mum crackers. These days I'm not sure if he's got the energy for leg-jiggling - I must try and remember to watch the next time I see him ...
 

---

Posted by AngloCatholicGirl (# 16435) on :
 
I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant and have just started jiggling (but only my right leg), it's driving me bananas let alone Mr ACG, so I'm hoping it's just a weird pregnancy thing....
 

---

Posted by Gideon (# 17676) on :
 
Leg jiggler, leg sitter and finger drummer here... My daughter leg jiggles vigorously enough to shake sofas, tables and occasionally rows of theatre seats. Don't think either of us is on the spectrum or has ADHD. We don't put weight on much tho despite having healthy appetites!
 

---

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
My wife is a leg jiggler. The constant vibration has been known to make me start feeling nauseous if I'm next to it for too long...
 

---

Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on :
 
Another female leg jiggler here, though I mostly do it when alone. I usually start it by lifting my heel off the floor so my weight is on the ball of my foot and putting enough weight on it so the jiggle is more or less involuntary unless I move my foot. Do other jigglers do the same?
I hate sitting upright in a chair and only do it at work or when I have to be unusually well behaved.
My father in law jiggles his leg enough to vibrate a sofa.
 

---

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
When I were a lad, I could sit down and put my legs on autopilot: they'd jiggle for quite a bit!
 

---

Posted by Fredegund (# 17952) on :
 
I wasn't aware I was practising this in the office until I read this thread. Bother. Now I'm aware of it.
Used to be confined to late at night, probably related to being over-tired. Used to drive DH crazy when we had a water bed. As someone else has said, I can stop on request.
As far as I know it's not related to ADHD, drugs whatever - at least not in my case.
 

---

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :
 
I think there is no evidence that it is related to any drugs or to ADHD, but it might have a connection to very mild aspergers - that might not be diagnosed or in need of treatment, so you might not know you have it, but it might be there.

I only suggest this because I have mild aspergers, and there is a sense where it would fit in with that - a sense of restlessness.

Not that I am suggesting that all others are on the aspergers spectrum, just that this might be one indicator.
 

---

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
There is always restless leg syndrome to consider and its nighttime variant. Most people here call the night time version restless leg syndrome, and don't really have a label for what the link labels restless leg syndrome. YMMV
 

---

Posted by HughWillRidmee (# 15614) on :
 
I used to jiggle my leg (right one?) in my teens - it used to annoy my father immensely - when we were relaxing in the sitting room of an evening. He was clearly unaware that whilst telling me to "keep still" he was not only jiggling his own leg but drumming both sets of fingers on the arms of his chair.

Oh, and he used to annoy the hell out of my mother by jiggling keys/loose change in his pocket whilst singing hymns in church when away from home.
 

---

Posted by Nicolemr (# 28) on :
 
Another leg jiggler here. I've never been diagnosed with Aspergers, but there is autisim in my family and it wouldn't at all surprise me to find I was somewhere on the spectrum.
 

---

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 
Yep! I'm a leg jiggler! Would I sound like a creepy, perverted person to admit that the vibrations of other leg jigglers is like a massage to me? Sigh... I know that's weird! In high school math class in eleventh grade, there was this kid who sat behind me who always kicked the back of my chair and... I loved it! To keep him doing that, I would turn around and hiss, "Stop kicking my chair! You're driving me crazy!" and it worked! He kicked my chair that whole year.

I jiggle my right leg because that's the leg I use on the bass drum of my drum set. I tap both fingers on anything to work out the endless drum beats I'm trying to learn. Luckily, my wife is a drummer too, so my tapping fingers don't bother her. The leg jiggling? Ehhh, she's not so into that.
 

---

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
Maybe she's just not that into you having that habit!
 

---

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The5thMary:
In high school math class in eleventh grade, there was this kid who sat behind me who always kicked the back of my chair and... I loved it! To keep him doing that, I would turn around and hiss, "Stop kicking my chair! You're driving me crazy!" and it worked! He kicked my chair that whole year.

---

In seventh grade, my desk started to vibrate because the boy behind me was doing the leg jiggle. I told him to stop and he told me to get me long bushy hair off his desk first, etc. We became such good friends, I introduced him to my brother and they became life long best friends. I called him to talk over old times and high school hi-jinks last year after my brother told me he was dying of cancer. Love your jigglers while you have them.

 

---

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
Maybe she's just not that into you having that habit!

---

Ugh! Kevin! That was baaaaaaaaaad!
 

---

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
Female leg jiggler checking in.

It's closely related to ADHD.


 

---

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :
 
Twilight - that's a lovely but sad story. Thank you.
 

---

© Ship of Fools 2016


UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0