Is Clumsiness a Sign of a Health Problem?

If you’ve ever been called clum­sy in your life, you’re not alone. Whether you drop things, trip, or bump into fur­ni­ture, these moments are com­mon­place for many people. 

Mild clum­si­ness is not usu­al­ly a cause for con­cern, though it might encour­age you to pay more atten­tion to what you’re doing. But some­times, clum­si­ness can sig­nal a health problem. 

Here are 7 health con­di­tions that can cause clumsiness. 

1. Sleep Deprivation 

Sleep is impor­tant for many aspects of your well-being, includ­ing your brain health, heart health, metab­o­lism, immune sys­tem, and think­ing and memory. 

It also plays a role in your bal­ance and coor­di­na­tion. While just one night of sleep depri­va­tion can impact your sta­bil­i­ty, con­tin­ued lack of sleep can cause even fur­ther problems. 

Get­ting a good night’s sleep might involve chang­ing some behav­iors, but it may also war­rant a vis­it to a sleep med­i­cine spe­cial­ist to check for a sleep disorder. 

Also read ​“Can’t Fall Asleep? It May Be Your Sleep Environment” 

2. Anx­i­ety

Affect­ing about one-third of Amer­i­cans at one point in their lives, anx­i­ety is a com­mon health con­di­tion. Among oth­er symp­toms, like feel­ing ner­vous and rest­less, anx­i­ety can also cause clumsiness. 

Anx­i­ety impacts your ner­vous sys­tem, which can cause your hands to shake or alter the way you view your sur­round­ings. This can cause you to bump into things or drop things — both com­mon aspects of clumsiness. 

If you think your clum­si­ness might be relat­ed to your emo­tion­al well­ness, make an appoint­ment with a Duly Behav­ioral Med­i­cine spe­cial­ist to get the sup­port you need. 

3. Vision Prob­lems, Like Cataracts and Glaucoma 

Vision is the pri­ma­ry sense you use to make your way through the world. But if your eyes aren’t work­ing as they should, you might find your­self deal­ing with some clumsiness. 

If your vision is dete­ri­o­rat­ing (such as due to con­di­tions like age-relat­ed mac­u­lar degen­er­a­tion, cataracts, and glau­co­ma), you may have trou­ble doing activ­i­ties like walk­ing or going up and down stairs with­out falling. 

An oph­thal­mol­o­gist can diag­nose and treat vision prob­lems, help­ing you to see clear­ly and move safe­ly with­in your surroundings. 

4. Stroke 

Strokes — which occur every 40 sec­onds in the US — are when the blood sup­ply is blocked to the brain or a blood ves­sel in the brain bursts. Ear­ly action is crit­i­cal in reduc­ing the dam­age done by strokes. This means know­ing their signs and symp­toms, includ­ing sud­den clumsiness. 

Strokes can cause paral­y­sis and mus­cle weak­ness, lead­ing to clum­si­ness. Oth­er signs of a stroke include sudden: 

• Weak­ness or numb­ness in the face, leg, or arm (espe­cial­ly on one side of the body) 

• Con­fu­sion, dif­fi­cul­ty speak­ing, or trou­ble under­stand­ing others 

• Vision prob­lems

• Dif­fi­cul­ty walk­ing or dizziness 

• Severe headache

If you sus­pect you or some­one you know is hav­ing a stroke, call 911 right away. 

5. Amy­otroph­ic Lat­er­al Sclerosis 

For­mer­ly known as Lou Gehrig’s dis­ease, amy­otroph­ic lat­er­al scle­ro­sis (ALS) is a neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­der that impacts the nerves in your brain and spinal cord that are in con­trol of vol­un­tary mus­cle move­ment. As these nerve cells begin to die, they have trou­ble com­mu­ni­cat­ing with mus­cles, lead­ing to weak­ened mus­cles and clumsiness. 

Clum­si­ness is often an ear­ly sign of ALS, along with mus­cle twitch­es, slurred speech, and trou­ble chew­ing. Over time, it can devel­op into a com­plete paral­y­sis of the body, includ­ing breathing. 

There is no treat­ment or cure for ALS. How­ev­er, a spe­cial­ized care team can help patients be inde­pen­dent and mobile for as long as possible. 

6. Mul­ti­ple Sclerosis 

Also a neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­der, mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis (MS) is when your immune sys­tem attacks healthy cells in the pro­tec­tive bar­ri­er that sur­rounds the brain and spinal cord (called the myelin sheath). This dis­rupts the nerve sig­nals from your brain to the rest of your body, includ­ing your mus­cles, which can cause clumsiness. 

Oth­er ear­ly signs of MS include vision prob­lems, mus­cle spasms, mus­cle weak­ness, tin­gling or numb­ness in the legs and arms, and fatigue. Over time, this can lead to trou­ble walk­ing and the need to use an assis­tive device, like a cane or walker. 

While there is no cure for MS, treat­ment involves eas­ing symp­toms and slow­ing the disease’s progression. 

7. Alzheimer’s Disease 

Peo­ple with Alzheimer’s dis­ease face more than just mem­o­ry loss. They also strug­gle with spa­tial rela­tions — or deter­min­ing how close or far they are from objects and peo­ple. This can lead to clum­si­ness in the form of trip­ping, spilling, and drop­ping items. 

Oth­er signs of Alzheimer’s dis­ease include dif­fi­cult plan­ning, con­fu­sion with time and place, mis­plac­ing items fre­quent­ly, and changes in mood or per­son­al­i­ty. If you or your loved one has just one of these symp­toms, it’s impor­tant to see a health­care provider to seek ear­ly treat­ment and make a plan for the future. 

When to See Your Doc­tor About Clumsiness 

Some­times clum­si­ness is just clum­si­ness — and it’s noth­ing to be con­cerned about. But if your clum­si­ness comes on sud­den­ly, lasts a long peri­od of time, or inter­rupts your day-to-day life, it’s time to see your health­care provider. 

Your provider can deter­mine the root cause of your coor­di­na­tion issues. If it is typ­i­cal clum­si­ness, they can dis­cuss how to decrease your risk of falls and injury, such as by exer­cis­ing to engage your mus­cles. It can also be help­ful to slow down with your tasks and take in your sur­round­ings before mov­ing forward. 

As with any health con­cern, lis­ten to your body. If you’re wor­ried about your clum­si­ness, talk to your provider. You know your body best, and they can get you any nec­es­sary treat­ment and sup­port to move with confidence.