Stopping Leg Bouncing

If you have it, you can stop it - If you really want to. It's surprisingly easy.

For lack of a better term, let's call this phenomenon, "Jumping (or Bouncing) Leg Syndrome." Sometimes it runs in families. In my own family of origin, most of the men had it so when we sat together for a full-family holiday meal, five or six men would have one or both legs vibrating up and down and the table would rumble as though a mild, but sustained, earth tremor was occurring. Strangely in retrospect, we all regarded this as being entirely normal.

There is some knowledge and a great deal of speculation about the cause(s) of Bouncing Leg Syndrome. Some consider it to be a fully involuntary reflex driven by either a uniquely connected muscle-nerve system while others persist in viewing it as a physical expression of anxiety or nervousness. One person I spoke with insisted that it was the innate human urge to dance that was at play with Bouncing Leg Syndrome! Bouncling/Jumping Leg Syndrome is sometimes associated with anxiety and often with ADHD.

Whatever the cause, there is a certain and simple way to stop it!

The technique is straight-forward enough but the force of habit that develops around the behavior may make using this technique difficult for some people. Like with many things, techniques, in and of themselves, are not sufficient to accomplish change. Motivation and the willingness to work at achieving it are essential elements of success.

If you have this 'habit' or are in a position to observe others doing it, notice that while the leg is bouncing, the weight of that leg is being supported by the 'ball' of the foot. Moving that foot forward 608 inches, just enough to shift the weight on it off of the ball and onto the heel of the foot will pretty much instantly stop the leg bouncing.

I realize that this sounds too simple to be correct ... But, give it a try. You will be both surprised and pleased to discover that you DO have control over what you may have assumed to be an uncontrollable reflexive behavior. In recent years, specific behavioral interventions have been introduced to help people manage what physicians and therapists have come to designate as "Restless Leg Syndrome."

I have introduced this technique to many clients over many years of clinical practice and 1) it always works initially, and 2) often, the habit is so strong that the person can't tolerate the stopping and pulls their leg back into the 'ball of the foot centered' position, thereby inviting the Bouncing Leg Syndrome to reoccur. As with so many thing is life, knowing how to do something is not the same as actually doing it! This is the simplest for of behavioral intervention. A person wants something to be different, so they must do something differently. The hope is in the ability to deliberately make change at some point in the cycle.

Dealing with a person's motivation and willingness to try to break such a seemingly reflexive habit can be a lot more challenging that teaching the technique that will stop it.

But, Bouncing Leg Syndrome IS a controllable action in most cases and this simply shifting of the position of the foot is really all it takes - together with the persons will to gain control of their own movement.