Sciatica for the home office worker

 

That unbearable pain in your low back and your leg is more than a distraction. In fact, it’s affecting your work productivity, not to mention your personal life. It’s called sciatica, and one of its causes is sitting for long periods of time, like so many who work from home.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that now that you are working from home, there is not commute, breaks are not as formal, you aren’t going out for that mid afternoon coffee.  Without these mini breaks, you aren’t as active as you were when you were working in the office.  Sciatica is inflammation or irritation of the sciatic nerve.

 

What is sciatica, and how do I know if I have it?

 

Sciatica gets its name from the nerve that causes this painful symptom. The sciatic nerve starts in your lower back and runs down each leg and eventually to your feet.

We tend to identify sciatica as any back and or leg pain but its more characteristically a mix of back pain and stabbing leg pain. You might also experience numbness or tingling in your legs and bum.

 

While some sciatic nerve pain is minor, it can also be crippling and prevent you from ordinary day-to-day activities like sitting at your desk and working or engaging in a favorite pastime or sport.

 

Sciatica is a symptom that describes an irritation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic starts in the low back as the small nerves of the spine join together. There is one on either side that run down each leg. It travels deep into the pelvis to the lower part of the bum, weaving between the different muscles. From there, it passes down the back of each thigh. Then the nerve divides at the knee into branches that go to the feet.  It’s the largest nerve in the body and works to supply movement and feeling to the legs.

 

Sciatica is caused by pressure or irritation of the nerve. This can be the result of:

  • Herniated Disk—the joints between the bones of your spine put pressure on the nerve as it exits the spine (this causes about 90% of cases of sciatica 1, 2)
  • Arthritis – this results in lower back joint swelling
  • Spinal Stenosis—narrowing of the lower back spinal canal
  • Sondylolisthesis —slipping of a bone in the lower back over another
  • Cauda Equina Syndrome—compression of nerves at the base of the spinal cord
  • Piriformis syndrome—spasm or tightening of the piriformis muscle

 

This is not an exhaustive list of sciatica causes.  It’s important to consult your health care provider like a chiropractor or physiotherapist to determine the cause of your sciatica and find an appropriate course of management.

 

Is my office job the cause of my sciatica?

 

It’s possible. Sciatica is a symptom that is caused by diverse problems.  As we just saw, some examples are arthritis, a herniated disc, pregnancy, and spinal stenosis.

But if you’re largely sedentary, sitting at an office desk for most of your days, which is common for people with desk jobs, especially if you are working from home, developing sciatica is a real concern. Poor posture while working and office chairs that aren’t ergonomically designed significantly contribute to the likelihood of developing sciatica. Even if you are working with good posture, sitting at your home office for too long puts a lot of pressure on certain areas of your body, not matter how ergonomically sounds you are sitting.  This can be enough to irritate your sciatic nerve and cause unbearable pain.

How do I Prevent Sciatica?

 

Sciatica tends to happen more for many reasons. To help reduce your chance of sciatica:

  • Use proper body movement when playing sports, exercising, or lifting anything heavy. This means keeping simple thing in mind, like the age old “lift with your knees, not your back”.
  • Maintain good posture whether you are sitting or standing to reduce pressure on your spine.
  • Begin a safe and consistent exercise program, focusing on proper movement.
  • Avoid sitting or standing in one position for long periods. This means taking small breaks to change positions.
  • If your work requires a lot of heavy lifting or sitting, do some proper training to ensure that you are moving the best way that you can. You can find some tips for the office worker here.

 

Do I just have to live with sciatica?

 

While sciatica is common in office workers, especially people working in a home office, it’s not normal and you don’t have to suffer at work or home. Sciatica can be managed with a few simple strategies:

Move

 

The Majority jobs involve sitting or standing in the same place for more or less the entire day. This can lead to all sorts of pain and other health issues not matter what position you are in.  It’s not about the position that you are in, but more about the fact that you are sedentary, in one position putting stress on only a few muscles and joints. Sciatica is one of the most commonly reported symptoms in sedentary workers. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to break this cycle. Simply make sure that you aren’t in the same position for too long. You should try and take a mini break several times throughout the day, ideally, every 20-30 minutes.

Depending on your job (and how strict your boss is), the best way to do this is to take a mini break.  This means getting a glass of water, grabbing something from the printer, or doing a few simple stretches to loosen up your body. This allows your minds to stay focused, without becoming overworked and let your body move to give other areas, like those spinal discs a break. This will help prevent pain, and could even improve the quality of your work!

 

Sit Right

 

As mentioned above, one of the major problems with sciatica is that people do not have good posture. I’m sure you have good intentions, and start working with great posture, but as time goes on, especially if you are sitting at the computer for 2 hours, you start to slouch or hunch. Now, if you have a home workstation, you want to set yourself up with the best setup that you can.  This doesn’t mean going out to buy a $2000 office chair.  Don’t forget, most office furniture is designed for “the average person”.  Unfortunately, none of us are average.  This is why it’s the most important to find the best equipment that will help you keep good posture the easiest way possible.  The easiest way to do this is to think of your body in right, or 90 degree, angles. When sitting, your eyes should be level with the middle of your monitor or screen. Your ears should line up with your shoulders, which are in turn directly above your hips. Your hips should form a right angle while you are sitting on your chair.  Your knees should form another right angle down to your ankles.  And your ankles, directly below your knees, will then form a right angle with the floor.  If you can’t sit comfortably in this position, you might want to consider some sort of a modification.

It can feel strange trying to readjust how you sit, or you may simply find that the new posture isn’t helping as much as you had hoped. If this is the case, you may find that adjusting your office chair and workplace can help you to achieve this. This combination should take tension off the sciatic nerve, reducing irritation, and lessening the pain you feel.

 

Sciatic pain waxes and wanes, but this doesn’t have to be your life forever. We’ve helped many patients become free from sciatic nerve pain with individualized treatment and education about how to make their work areas healthier with properly positioned computers and chairs to minimize their symptoms and maximize their quality of life.