Sciatica Pain and Managing it through Seated Posture

For most of us, staying seated for long a duration comes with having a job and may seem like a non-negotiable. If this would be true, musculoskeletal pain would probably be unavoidable, in particular sciatica.
The reality is different, with strategic posture adjustments and better office ergonomics, we can not only alleviate sciatic pain but also improve our overall efficiency at work.
What Is Sciatica & its Symptoms
Sciatica refers to pain that radiates along the sciatic nerve that runs from the lower back through the hips and down each leg.
Pain happens when the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated and poor seated posture is a huge risk factor for sciatica.
Symptoms of sciatica include the following:
- Pain
Most of us will experience sciatica pain as burning or like an electric current radiating down the affected leg. - Tingling (paresthesia).
Similar to how you would feel when your leg falls asleep. - Numbness
Lack of sensation on your skin or other affected areas on the leg means the compression is preventing nervous signals from traveling to your brain. Muscle weakness can follow.
How Seated Posture Affects Sciatica
Prolonged sitting for long hours with poor posture and an ‘un-ergonomic’ setup can worsen sciatica pain.
The most relevant mechanism to analyze for understanding sciatica pain is slouching. Indeed, slouching can
- Increase the pressure on the inter-vertebral discs, which can in turn compress the nerve roots.
- Contract the piriformis muscle, which will exert pressure on the sciatic nerve in the buttocks area.
Hence, you need to STOP slouching! Here are some key elements to do so:
Feet forward: When you extend your feet far forward, you increase the risk of sliding in your chair and therefore slouch.
Sitting too high: if your feet are not well supported, you will sit away from the backrest and therefore slouch.
Sitting without a lumbar support (or with a wrongly adjusted lumbar support): The purpose of lumbar support is to support your belt. If there is none, or an insufficient one, your pelvis will tilt and you will slouch.
I also recommend watching my video on sciatica pain for a visual demonstration, you can Watch It Here
Relieving Sciatic Pain by improving your Workstation Setup & Seated Posture
Maintaining proper posture for extended periods will require ergonomic adjustments to your workspace or work desk.
- Adjustable chair:
As previously explained, the chair backrest should support your pelvis. But to do so, the chair needs to be adapted to your morphology! - Desk height & distance
If your desk is too high and you don’t use a footrest, your feet will not be on the floor… so you will slide on the seat and slouch!
If you do use a footrest but the latter is too far under the desk, your feet will be far forward and you will slouch again.
If you sit too close to the desk, you will press the shoulder blades on the backrest… and you will slouch again!
Hence, there are many factors that lead to slouching and therefore increase the risk of sciatica.
Conclusion:
Seeking “hands-on” therapies is sometimes necessary. But getting a massage, chiropractic adjustment or physiotherapy will fix the causes of your pain: you need to improve your workplace setup!
This is why I’ve created a simple questionnaire designed to offer tips that will help you improve the way you use your office chair and adjust your workstation setup to fix the causes of sciatic pain rather than deal with sciatic pain.
Give it a try and share it with your friends & colleagues: believe me, they need it too!
https://ergoh-conseil.typeform.com/self-assessment
This is a 100% free self-assessment tool aimed at making your life less painful and your office hours more sustainable. It’s part of my contribution to a world with less pain.