Sitting down is supposed to be a recovery position for your body compared to more stressful positions like standing or moving, but for a small portion of people, the act of sitting is actually quite uncomfortable. Sitting changes how stress is dispersed in our body, and it tends to increase the amount of stress in your lower back, so if you are dealing with an underlying issue in your lumbar spine, sitting can lead to an uptick in symptoms. But what type of conditions could you be dealing with if sitting causes more severe symptoms? In today’s blog, we explore some of the conditions that could be at play if your back pain worsens when sitting.
My Back Hurts Worse When I Sit
Sitting may not feel like a very strenuous activity, and for areas like your feet, legs and arms, it’s not. However, sitting can really amplify pressure on different areas of your lumbar spine. When we’re sitting down, much of the stress of our body weight and gravity is felt in our lower back. If you’re dealing with certain spinal issues, the added stress on the lower spine when sitting can serve to enhance irritation or symptoms. Here’s a look at some conditions that could be at play if your back symptoms tend to worsen when you’re in a seated position.
- Herniated Disc – A herniated disc occurs when one of the strong spinal discs that sit between our vertebral segments ends up shifting out of place. When this happens, the disc can irritate or compress spinal nerves that are passing by in close proximity. Sitting can increase the strain on our lower back and change the amount of pressure an out-of-place disc puts on nearby spinal nerves.
- Sciatica – Sciatica is another issue that involves a nerve problem in the lower back and hip area. Your sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body, branching from your lower back and down each leg. It passes through some narrow openings along its way down your leg, and if these spaces shrink, it can lead to sciatic nerve compression. As you may have guessed, sitting down can cause the space through which this sciatic nerve runs to shrink, and if the space becomes too small for the nerve, pain and discomfort will develop.
- Degenerative Disc Disease – Degenerative disc disease is another condition that may become more noticeable when you sit down and increase the amount of pressure on your lower spine. Some natural disc degeneration is expected and normal as we age, but if poor posture or weight gain speed up this process, thinning spinal discs may struggle to support the vertebral column, leading to instability and joint discomfort. If the degeneration is more severe in the lower spine, sitting could amplify symptoms.
- Spinal Stenosis – Spinal stenosis is another nerve-related issue that could be more obvious depending on your seated or standing posture. Spinal stenosis occurs when the spinal canal through which your spinal nerves pass ends up shrinking and compressing the nerves. In patients with spinal stenosis, symptoms tend to be more severe when they are standing up straight or sitting up straight. Oftentimes the individual can create more space in the spinal canal by leaning forward a bit, which is why the condition has earned the moniker “shopping cart spine.” Hunching forward while you’re seated can also be an indication of an attempt to relieve an underlying spinal stenosis issue.
Sitting should be a relaxing position for your whole body, but if symptoms ratchet up when you’re trying to take a load off, know that there is an underlying issue that warrants your doctor’s attention. Dr. Sinicropi and his team would be more than happy to provide you with a consultation, figure out what’s going on in your spine and develop an individualized treatment plan that helps relieve your symptoms. For more information, or for help with a different back or neck issue, reach out to Dr. Sinicropi and the team at The Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.
