Sitting for long periods...

[madmum]

I sympathise. I get the same pain and hate sitting for long periods. I tend to perch trying to keep weight of my lower back. Add knee and calf problems on and it is not a good mix. Got mri scans coming up and dread lying on the scanner bed as it is so painful on my back and you cannot wriggle as you have to stay completely still for ages. My son finds sitting for long periods at school difficult as it is uncomfortable. He gets back and neck ache.

[mcbeauty]

I get problems with SI jont and pelvis if I sit for a long time. If I'm sitting or driving for a lot of the day then my legs ache all over by the end of the day. Also, while sitting I have to hitch myself up with the armrests and clench my butt to click and clunk everything into place every now and then, can be quite loud, the longer I've been sitting the louder it is!
The really annoying thing though is that whenever I sit down I instantly get cold/tingling sensations down my left leg that stay until I stand up again, think it's piriform syndrome due to unstable SI joint. My chiro suspects it's something to do with the piriform muscle but has't been able to do anything to help. It's been happening for about a year now. Have been resigning myself to the fact that it may be there from here on out which is a bit depressing! The only way of sitting without it happening so much is to sit on the sofa with my legs curled up but that's no good for my wonky pelvis. Anyone else have this problem?

[bexley]

Hi ,
I suffer with exactly the same problem as you and am often told I fidget quite a lot , but that is because , like you I can't stand or sit for long periods of time . When sitting in the car , I use one of the lumbar supports that you can get quite cheaply from a wide range of places and have found I can't sit longer , but I can sit with reduced strain and pain on my lower back . I also use a TENS machine which doesn't take the pain completely away but it relieves the discomfort and I find I am then able to do little bits without too much pain .

[sheppeyescapee]

I can't sit or stand for too long, one because it is uncomfortable and two my blood pools a fair bit. When I had the tilt table test my legs right up to my knees went bright blue!!

[Catkin10]

I have experienced similar problems. The majority of my pain is usually in my hips anyway, so it's not surprising that I've been affected. I had to sit down for a while when I was doing revision for my exams earlier this year so what I did was work for varying amounts of time, but as soon as I felt my pain really kicking in, I would get up and go and make a cup of tea or something, just so I was moving about. Also, stretching out my legs really helps because I can get really stiff and crack all over the place when I try to walk around suddenly after sitting for too long. The combination of a bit of movement and some small stretches kept my pain at a minimum at that time for me

[JessicaNJpa]

I also have a lot of pain with too much sitting, and like many of you it often starts in my least favorite SI joint. has anyone found a good exercise to combat this particular part of the pain?
I usually can sit for longer periods in the first couple days after a chiropractic adjustment, and sometimes if the pain is really bad I can get some relief by doing some self-traction on the SI joint (squeezing two pillows hard between your knees - can use 2 fists if no pillows around)
But in general I still need a good exercise to help the SI joint with momentary sitting pain.... anyone?

[isotope]

An exercise I've been shown that I've found good is to place a foot up onto my lap and put pressure on my knee, while sitting a bit forward on the chair. This seems to help mild pain or if I have very bad pain it at least seems to help me have momentary relief.

I wouldn't expect this to work for everyone, we all seem to function differently! Thought I'd mention it.

[Spireite]

As Isotope says, that wouldn't work for everyone and it would put my SI joint out.

[meggy.nut]

Isotope - thank you for sharing, but like you said I would be careful if people haven't done that movement before. If I follow your directions (which I won't ), that's how I accidentally dislocated my hip. The first time my foot was on the ground, but now the joint is so loose it pops out all the time.

I don't have any ideas other than carrying a cushion with you everywhere. My hips are very troublesome at the moment, and I'm very nervous about my four-hour exam next month. I'm fairly certain the proctors won't appreciate me putting my feet on the chair or curling into odd positions. The cold/tingling feeling - is that from the SI joint? It's been very bothersome, especially since I dislocated (second time in a month) one and subluxed the other hip. When I ride in the car I almost always have my feet up on the dash so they're elevated; it helps my hips and the blood pooling.

Spoons to everyone.

[Flora]

Meggy-nut, would it help to approach the Proctors before the exam starts, explain that you need to change positions frequently, and maybe ask for a seat near the rear of the hall to try to avoid distracting others? 4 hours though rest afterwards! Good luck in the exam
Flora

[JessicaNJpa]

Oh my gosh I can't imagine sitting still for 4 hours anymore! I can't even get through a church service anymore without getting up
I just wanted to add a note, my chiropractor reminded me this week that pain in the SI joint region may be referred from somewhere else, espeically the lower spine or the quadratus lumborum muscle - this is the muscle that goes from your lowest rib to the top of your pelvis - and tends to be grumpy next to a scoliosis.

Having said that, SI joints themselves are often the problem. Sometimes I can tell by the insant relief I get from an SI traction exercise.

[meggy.nut]

Fiona- that's a good idea, I'll be able to ask the study group leaders a bit more tomorrow night. Or hopefully someone else in the group might know how the exam rooms are set up.
Jessica- once I actually (nope i'm not bitter here not me) see my physiatrist next month I'll ask him about what you mentioned. I honestly don't know if I have scoliosis...I don't think anyone has ever checked. My teacher keeps asking me if I'm okay when I get up to fidget in class.
Fun fact: I have three 4-hour exams! Luckily I can space them out...as long as they're completed by late October. Whee.
Thanks for the advice and spoons to everyone!

[sammiegirl]

I recently went for a day trip to London on the train, I was very careful to move about on the train, rested plenty during the day and only walked for a max of 30 mins, rested legs up on the way back. When I took my clothes off at home the bottom half of my legs were all bloodshot, went to the docs the next day (locum) and he said it was vasculitis, no idea why I had got it and was really interested in my HMS. Does anyone know if there is a link?

[tinselworm]

I struggle so badly with sitting, especially in an office chair. I've got a specially provided chair from AtW all adjusted for me which is certainly better than the standard ones in the office but nothing i've tried gives me any upper back support at all and that's where I need it, rather than in the lower back; I simply can't sit up straight from my bra-line upwards without something there to support. Consequently I'm having real upper back and neck problems. Any ideas for this?

As someone else said further up thread the ideal position for me is leaning over to my left with my legs up on the sofa to the right of me. It's the only position I'm comfortable in, but sadly not appropriate for the office.