Are these issues causing your lower back pain when sitting?

Lower Back Pain When Sitting

Sitting is an activity that many people do on a daily basis, and you may do it for hours on end if you have an office job. However, you could be dealing with lower back pain when sitting. The pain could be causing you to lose productivity at work. It could even be affecting your mood and causing you to snap at unsuspecting coworkers. 

Lower back pain that’s affecting you in such ways is something you should start treating as soon as possible, but you might not know where to start. One great place to start is learning what could be causing your pain. Here are two issues that could be causing your lower back pain when sitting. 

1.   Sciatica

There are many nerves in your lower back, but one that could be causing your lower back pain when sitting is the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the human body. It runs all the way from your lower back to your toes, and pinching or irritating this huge nerve can lead to a painful condition called sciatica. 

The most common symptom of sciatica is pain that begins in the lower back, but you could also feel the pain shooting down your leg. The pain is usually felt in one leg or the other. In many cases, the pain feels like a burning sensation or shock, and you might also feel numbness, tingling or weakness in your legs or feet. 

2.   Herniated disc

Another issue that could also be leading to your lower back pain when sitting is a herniated disc. A disc is a sort of pillow between two vertebrae in the spine, and it has a tough, fibrous outer shell that surrounds a gel-like center. 

Discs in your lower back can be injured while playing sports. Damaged lumbar discs are also a common motor vehicle accident injury. When you have a herniated disc, the gel-like inner material is squeezed out through a rip in the outer shell, and the protruding material can end up rubbing against or pinching a lower back nerve. Herniated lower back discs often lead to symptoms that are similar to those of sciatica. In fact, this injury is often the root cause of sciatica and other nerve issues. 

Visit Whatcom Physical Therapy to treat lower back pain from sitting

Don’t continue to suffer with lower back pain when sitting. Our team at Whatcom Physical Therapy is ready to help you treat the source of your pain. We offer free screenings that can help reveal the source of your pain. Our team will use the information we gather in your screening to create a therapy plan that’s personalized to your needs. Our plans also include multiple beneficial therapy techniques, and some of the techniques in your plan could include: 

Are you ready to start getting our help with your lower back pain? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.