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Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated (Read 1956 times)

James Malloch

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Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 11:38:52 am
I’ve been getting a lot of pain in my right buttock recently. Saw a physio last week and she said it was my sciatic nerve. Pain is running from fairly central in the arse cheek down into my hamstring.

Now that I’ve got enforced work from home it is getting worse. I live on a boat so space is limited whcih means I can’t get a proper office chair. Have a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc but I think the seating position is causing the aggravation.

Any tips to help combat this? Stretches, cushions etc?

Going to be stuck here for some time so need to try and keep it under control...

spidermonkey09

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#1 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 11:53:21 am
I have a normal wooden chair for working rather than an office chair and use cushions to help posture/back discomfort. May not be relevant and obviously not specific to sciatica but might be worth ensuring thats taken care of too.

HarryBD

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#2 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 11:54:17 am
I've had similar but manifested in my lower back mostly. Regular hamstring + glute stretching + strengthening and avoiding sitting helped me - can you raise your desk and stand? If not sitting with good posture and regularly getting up to walk around is a good idea.

sheavi

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#3 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 11:55:01 am
With the usual caveats about not having assessed you etc. Forget the seating position - it's sitting.  Can you work standing up in your environment? If not at least stand every 20 minutes and move around.  Maybe do some back extension exercises e.g. upward facing dog so long as you don't get sciatic type symptoms while performing them or standing back extensions.  Go for walks at break times.

crzylgs

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#4 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 12:04:44 pm
I get something similar but perhaps mine is a little more lower back/side around hip rather than sciatic going down into hamstring/leg. Although if bad this will happen. Regardless for me I find a fairly firm but not rock solid foam roller helps. Also not sure what it is called but the stretch where you lay on back, twist at hips and bend knee over to one side while looking other way really helps:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.HqJZmqvcRGKi12OVtsUYsAHaDz%26pid%3DApi&f=1

Also, things like yoga cat:cow, childs pose all those goodies could only help.

duncan

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#5 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 12:08:34 pm
I occasionally get this after too much time sitting, it gets better if I limit prolonged sitting.   

Where I work, all the GPs have expensive chairs or standing desks. None of the physiotherapsts do (because we know the research evidence) but we're constantly getting up and stretching or making tea. The main thing is to keep moving.  Fidget and wriggle if you are sitting, set a timer to 25 minutes and spend 5 minutes walking around in every half hour.

Stabbsy

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#6 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 17, 2020, 12:37:22 pm
With me, similar symptoms turned out to be a tight piriformis(sp?) - in my case, usually brought on by driving. Obviously anecdotal but easy enough to try out. I did mostly stretch 1 from here :-


James Malloch

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#7 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 19, 2020, 11:29:10 am
I thought I replied to this but looking back it must not have posted - doh!

However, what I did say was many thanks for the responses. I’ve started getting up a lot more - the timer suggestion is a good one - and I’m now stretching each morning before work. Going to try and add stretched into the day too but space is a little limited which makes it difficult - I’ll be able to get some done though.

I’ve managed to fashion a standing desk by putting my coffee table on my dining table... Not ideal but I’ll give it a go today! That also means more stretching space on the floor - win win!

Scouse D

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#8 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 19, 2020, 09:59:16 pm
I have struggled with sciatica symptoms on my left leg only for years. Always slightly improved with piriformis stretching and ql stretches but never fixed it. This year I fixed it completely when I discovered that my right leg was about 1cm shorter than my left which was tilting my pelvis and causing the sciatica symptoms. I bought an adjustable insole for my right shoe which levelled up my pelvis and I've had no issues since. It's worth having a look in a mirror and locating the boney lumps at the front of the pelvis (ASIS) to see if they are level. If not try to level them out by putting books of various thicknesses under the shorter leg. Worth a squirt.

cheque

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#9 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 20, 2020, 05:09:32 pm
I can’t add much but second the recommendation to get up and move about.

I bought an adjustable insole for my right shoe which levelled up my pelvis and I've had no issues since.

Do you have a link to this Scouse? Sounds great.

Scouse D

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#10 Re: Sciatic nerve pain - whilst seated
March 20, 2020, 07:47:40 pm
https://www.shoeinsoles.co.uk/clearly-adjustable-leg-length-discrepancy-insole.html

It looks terrible when it arrives ( a block of rigid plastic)but it is actually an elegant solution of a stack of 1mm plastic sheets which form to the foot very quickly. It took me a bit of fine tweaking to get my stack right but it felt great almost instantly. Also helped my sore right shoulder.

 

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