My hands, from the elbow down, cannot act independently from
eachother. In other words, what one hand does, the other hand does at
the exact same time. This has ben since I was an infant and I'm now in
my mid thirties. Has anyone ever heard of this?

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Request for Question Clarification by jackburton-ga on 06 Jan 2004 05:02 PST

Hi Brindle,
  
I have no medical or neurological expertise, so I am not making any
kind of diagnosis - but it sounds like you could have impaired
"Bilateral Motor Coordination". What may have caused this in the
beginning, I really couldn't say, but treatment does seem to exist.
  
  
Here's some information I unearthed on the topic:
   
"Bilateral motor coordination refers to the coordinated use of the two
sides of the body and implies good connection between the two sides of
the brain. A child first coordinates the use of the two sides of his
body symmetrically (as in pat-a-cake) and then coordinates them in a
reciprocal or asymmetrical manner (as in climbing a ladder). Bilateral
coordination gradually leads to an awareness of the two sides of the
body, selection of one side as dominant (laterality) and a sense of
left/right discrimination (directionality).
Therefore, the development of bilateral coordination is necessary not
only for the coordinated use of the two sides of the body, but also
related functions, which depend on it."
http://www.myschoolonline.com/page/0,1871,34419-184131-38-69947,00.html
   
"Impaired Bilateral Motor Coordination
                Children with impaired bilateral motor coordination
often exhibit difficulty with bilateral activities, such as clapping,
hopping, skipping, jumping jacks, and keyboarding. Difficulty with
bilateral self-care skills, such as fastening and shoe tying, is often
present. These children may have some right?left confusion, avoid
midline crossing, and have difficulty developing a hand preference.
Additionally, they appear to have vestibular and proprioceptive
difficulties. Treatment generally focuses on providing vestibular and
proprioceptive experiences and graded bilateral activities. Treatment
may start with simple crossing midline, rotation, and symmetrical
activities and work toward asymmetrical activities and more complex
coordination skills (Koomar & Bundy, 1991).
The sensory diet and environmental modification ideas from decreased
discrimination of vestibular and proprioceptive information that
address vestibular input should be used in addition to the ideas
specific to bilateral motor coordination."
http://www.henryot.com/news/sensory_diet_applications_review.htm
  
  
jackburton-ga
GA Researcher

YEP.... you have AHP.  
Maybe  ; )

What you are describing is "mirroring". It's seen in kids but usually
disappears by age 10 / 11 as the brain becomes nuerologically more
mature. For it to persist reveals an incomplete development  of
differentiation between a dominate side of the brain and a
non-dominate side.

A nuerologist would love to see you and it can possibly be helped with
motor training .. maybe surgery.

There are some things which need to be "ruled out" as serious causes
but you probably don't have any of them because of the long standing
of the mirroring.

AHP is 'Alien Hand Phenomenon' .

Bill

P.S.
If this was a good answer [without the references that I don't have to
provide because I'm just commenting] write Google Answers and
recommend me