How to relieve SI pain while sitting for long hours?

Hi everyone,

As some of you know I'm writing my thesis so I'm sitting on my butt for approximately six hours everyday. And while I'm doing my best not to "sit for too long", by getting up and walking around, putting some ice on it, even doing funny things with my legs to move my buttocks and lower back, my left SI is still making me want to SCREAM with pain! The burning pain is radiating all the way down to the top of my foot, and making my leg feel very, very heavy which is kinda freaking me out! I don't take my NSAID until I'm done working to avoid any drowsiness, but this is turning into torture!!!! Rachael suggested a couple of days ago that I put something soft under me while working and I still haven't gotten to chance to find something appropriate, but I was wondering if you guys have any further suggestions on what to do while sitting for too long. Or maybe there's nothing I can do other than what I'm currently doing anyway and I'll just have to suck it up till I finish my thesis.

Sometimes I use heat and sometimes I use ice.... it helps alot

Thanks Karen! I have been using ice but I'll try heat too... It's just that I realized heat makes my feet hurt more so I've been avoiding it on my back lately. Which is a shame really - this gal used to love her heating pad :)

I agree with the heat, if you can find a good electric heating pad, LL. My husband and I both have one, they're the Kaz brand, and we're really happy with them. They don't wear out as fast as some of the other ones we've tried. I just found them online by searching Kaz heating pad....I found them on Walmart.com for $26.37. My husband told me he only paid $11 apiece at Mill's Fleet! IDK how he got such a good deal, but I had paid over $40 for a Sunbeam brand heating pad at Walgreens (our local pharmacy) and it stopped working after about two weeks. We've had these Kaz ones for several months now. So annoying trying to concentrate and be creative in your writing when the pain is overwhelming and distracting you!!!!! When my SI pain was coming through the front of my leg, I would rub it alot. That seemed to help a little (anything, even a little, is helpful!).

Yep I rub my leg a lot too Grandma J :) I think the pain or the inflammation makes the muscles spasm or something. I mostly use a good old fashioned hot-water bottle and end up with red marks all around my body :D And exercise helps a lot too - at the end of every writing session (which is around 2 am every night) I do some moderate exercise including classical moves such as push ups and sit-ups (I mean, what I can do is something like 10 push ups and 20 sit-ups these days, pathetic really), and I cry with pain as my back cracks and pops - yep, I really do cry, sobbing and everything-, but then I get a sense of relief... But of course I can't get up and start doing push ups every time I feel the pain... or can I? :D Maybe I'll be fit as hell as an outcome of this pain, I'll be so muscular no one will know that I'm actually dying inside :P

LL, I agree with you about heat on my feet. I used to love a hot water soak or hot water bottle for my feet but these days I can't tolerate the heat and want the ice blocks instead. That said, when I have SI pain then it's a hot water bottle all the way ... and something soft to sit on - my memory foam pillow is great.

Rather than doing full push-ups when your back is bad why not try doing them standing with your hands against the wall, you adjust the effort/resistance by moving your feet away from the wall. I learnt these push-backs at hydrotherapy and now do them at home without the water. I also do a backwards version, a bit harder, but great for my shoulders. My physio also has me stretch my lower back by laying down, knees bent and hugging them to my chest, if you gently rock from side-to-side in this position it also massages your lower back and SI.

Be gentle and kind to yourself.

Hi Jules, first of all thank you for your suggestions... That actually makes sense - to modify the push ups when my back is bad. I guess I'll do that. I'm doing a mixture of moves - some from yoga, some classical stuff like the push ups, I found a list of exercises by Turkish AS association so I do some stuff from there, I actually have no idea what I'm doing other than trying to stay as active as possible!

And a funny thing - the move you mentioned, lying on your back hugging your knees and gently rocking, well, it's my favorite move!!! I do it after every exercise session. Helps my back relax and kinda feels like being hugged so good for my emotional state too :P

I'll go to a medical/orthopedic stuff centre and ask for something soft to sit on - I guess that's the place to go? Surely they must have something appropriate for someone with SI pain to sit on :) Or maybe I should just try and find the softest pillow I can. But for that I need energy and time - which I haven't had lately.

Oh, and tonight I don't want to scream with pain which is a refreshing change, so maybe it all comes down to good days and bad days as always and has nothing to do with what I do or don't do!

Hi, ladylazarus. I find that I cannot sit on anything soft, so my Dr. recommended a coccyx cushion. I carry my cushion everywhere. I also sit on a hard chair.

And now I'm confused :) Should I sit on something soft or something hard :) But I think I need something soft because hard places usually make my lower back hurt. And although I gained some weight I can still be called somewhat skinny so I feel my bones when I sit on hard surfaces. And coccyx cushion seems like a good idea. I was actually thinking of getting one of those cushions used for ingrown hairs in the buttock area. You know the ones with a hole right in the middle. I need to go downtown for it though and I still haven't gotten the chance...

Tirezza said:

Hi, ladylazarus. I find that I cannot sit on anything soft, so my Dr. recommended a coccyx cushion. I carry my cushion everywhere. I also sit on a hard chair.

Hard/soft? Whatever feels the most comfortable ... let your butt decide :)

Haha ingrown hairs where????! Those cushions work good for a sore bottom after you've pushed out a baby!

But, LL, does your physical therapist press on the side of your butt towards the SI joint? Mine did and I think that was what helped my pain go away. But, I don't think I have arthritis on my SI joint, so our situation is/was a little different. Mine had just shifted slightly and that's what made everything hurt. I did really mellow exercises, too, just enough to stimulate the circulation. Don't overdo it! If the exercise makes it hurt more, I don't know if you should continue it. One thing that really helped my pain was laying flat on my back and then with my knee bent, grasping my leg and pulling it up to my chest. I guess that takes the pressure off the nerve. It only helps for a little while, but, again, any little relief is welcome!

Glad to hear you were doing better a few hours ago--I hope that's still the case! Yes, it is the good days and bad days--or the good hours and bad hours. I can feel really good for most of the day and then feel really crappy later on. Today I was thinking how nice it is that my feet are feeling so much better--and my back doesn't hurt. I have a sore throat and my neck has been stiff for a couple weeks, but eventually that'll feel better and maybe I'll be good for a couple days or maybe not. I wonder if someone with PsA made up the saying, variety is the spice of life!

I've been thinking some more about this and think that for me a hard upright table chair with my memory foam pillow or similar soft cushion plus hot water bottle has always given the greatest relief. On the other hand sitting on a soft sofa or comfy chair where the back of the seat is much lower than the front edge and the back of the seat is concave is a recipe for even more pain ... in fact I bought my nice recliner chair to avoid sitting on that furniture at any time. Grandma J, I'd take a nice bland life if it was pain free ... to hell with this spice lark!



Jules said:

Hard/soft? Whatever feels the most comfortable ... let your butt decide :)

Haha, Grandma J, ingrown hairs in the butt is a real thing!!!! :D :D It mostly happens to men as far as I know, and I've known three, no, four people who had that problem at some point :D :D Apparently it turns into this big cyst which really hurts, yuck! As for the physical therapy... the last time I went to physical therapy was in February when I was in my hometown and as you know it didn't go very well, just made me hurt more! But... before I start my exercise I lie on my back on the floor, arms and legs stretched out and take a deep breath and let go - that's when I hear a scary big POP, and my lower back and my hips fall a little closer to the floor. I actually can feel my sacrum move up. It hurts right when it pops, but then I feel more at ease. Oh, and did you know that my last vertebrae is completely turned backwards! So I think also might have something to do with it too... the end of my spine always looked a little bumpy. Maybe I can try the move you described right after this.

Jules, I'll be giving my butt complete authority on what to sit on :D By the way, I looked at what a memory foam was and as it turns out, I have one of those at home! I remembered when I saw it and and had to dig deep for it but I eventually found it! So I'll give it a try tonight!!! :)

Way to go LL! No need to throw more $ at this! Try whatever you have around the house, then when you know what works go for the upgrade if needed. I used a “boppy pillow” left over from baby days. Its a super soft half moon pillow used to raise a baby to breast feed, prop them up sitting safely etc. It was in my donation pile until I broke my tailbone years ago. Lol talk about recycling!


Sorry I did not reply sooner, but what Jules said. :) I think mine all started with a fall down the stairs which bruised my tailbone. So, every time I sat on something soft it was like the pain you get when you hit an already bruised spot. All of my friends know to bring out a firm chair whenever I visit. How did the memory foam cushion work?


ladylazarus said:

And now I'm confused :) Should I sit on something soft or something hard :) But I think I need something soft because hard places usually make my lower back hurt. And although I gained some weight I can still be called somewhat skinny so I feel my bones when I sit on hard surfaces. And coccyx cushion seems like a good idea. I was actually thinking of getting one of those cushions used for ingrown hairs in the buttock area. You know the ones with a hole right in the middle. I need to go downtown for it though and I still haven't gotten the chance...

Tirezza said:

Hi, ladylazarus. I find that I cannot sit on anything soft, so my Dr. recommended a coccyx cushion. I carry my cushion everywhere. I also sit on a hard chair.

Hi Tirezza :) It worked just fine! Though I think what I was having was a flare and sitting just made it worse, because the pain miraculously stopped before I used the memory foam. Just out of the blue, it stopped. I'm still trying to understand the nature of this disease. It's so weird. I'm used to thinking "it hurts so I must have done something wrong". Not "I might hurt when I've done nothing wrong and I might wake up just fine the next day". It's frustrating. But right now I'm embracing feeling like an almost normal human being since I don't really know how I'll be feeling tonight :)

Rachael hi :) I was actually thinking if I should stuff cottonwool into a pillowcase or something till I remembered I did have the memory foam pillow :D One thinks of really weird stuff when trying to relieve unending pain :D