Sitting on an annular tear

[puma]

I just joined this forum today and feel very encouraged to seek inputs based on the posts I read here.

I am a 45-year old woman with a job that entails being at a laptop for about 7 to 9 hours a day. I had my first MRI last early month after a nagging back pain that got aggravated with any kind of forward bending, sitting, sneezing, and driving. My guess about the reason is that I moved heavy furniture (a 3-door cupboard) by myself. The MRI indicated that my pain most likely is due to an annular tear in my L5/S1 disc, which has a diffuse bulge. I have other issues like curvature not being OK, some disc bulges, and osteophytes.

My ortho doctor, whom I highly respect, suggested that I strengthen my back muscles with some stretches and swimming, to try and lose some weight (I am overweight by about 10 kilos), and to rest the back at least for some weeks for the annular tear. I took his advice and started doing some of these stretches, some yoga, a couple of exercises with a swiss ball, and some time on a cross-trainer/elliptical - a total of about an hour and a half every day. These seem to help and I feel a lot stronger. Even with the best posture on a firm good chair, I cannot sit for longer than two hours without pain though.

I have not had to take time off from work because my manager allowed me to work from home if I could. I manage to work on my laptop lying on my back very well. However, I do need to get back to my work place sooner or later. A standing workstation is not an option that I see as feasible for 7 to 9 hours day. I wish I could sit for many hours, interspersed by short walks. I have just ordered a stability/balance disc that I plan to use on my office chair. Would anybody have any suggestions about this or otherwise on how to be able to sit?

Thanks.

[mmglobal]

Hi Puma, welcome to the forum.... sorry you need to be here.

I've had several clients who've used standing workstations for years as that setup provided them with the most productive environment. With my lumbar problems, standing still was worse for me than sitting. The best kind of work day is sit a little, walk a little, stand very little, walk, sit, stand, repeat. Hopefully you'll find a system that works for you. Note that you may present a moving target and what was best yesterday might not be the best today.

Spine surgery is something that is very good NOT to have.... I'd listen to the conservative voices that recommend ergonomic changes, therapy, strengthening, core, flexibility, weight loss, etc.... (how is that for a buzzword salad?)

Good luck... please keep us posted,

Mark

[Maria]

I have retired due to my back (early) though at my last job I had a modified standing work station (had a seat at the cubicle should I want to to sit) and put a thick mat on the floor and stood barefoot at it while working at my computer station and on the phone (Advice Nurse/Telephone Triage) for up to 8 hours.

At the time I was doing this I had an annular tear at L3, a failed discectomy at L4 with rebulging disc, a rebulge of a discectomy at L5S1 and I just couldn't tolerate sitting hardly at all so this was the only manner I could work with exception of a laptop perched in a certain manner while semi reclining in bed (working from home).

Wishing you the best with however you work it out as best you're able. If your work allows a modified workstation and you can handle it or it suits your purpose ~ go for it!

Take care and good luck with all~ Maria

[puma]

Thanks Mark and Maria.

As I'm overweight by a few kilos, I'd be compromising my knees and ankles by standing for long hours. So, I wouldn't be going that way. :-/

I wonder if you could tell me of a way to sit without putting pressure on discs. Do you know of anybody who has tried a balance/stability disc?

A yogic way of sitting is called vajrasana. It works well for me at home but in the office? Another story or maybe a story a day! :-)

[Maria]

I know plenty of people who even thought they had a similar disc condition as me or at least that's what radiology reports said they could sit and I could not. In fact this was such a big problem for me that I went thru graduate school sitting or semi reclining in a bean bag chair in classes and also lying across a long table in grad statistics class. I could do the clinical part Ok as that involved standing and walking *Nurse Practitioner/MSN degree.

So for a number of years I pretty much avoided sitting as much as possible. If I had to fly back east I would stand for as much of the flight as possible and after 911 when passengers weren't allowed to stand up as much I bought 3 coach plane seats and laid on my side for a 5 hour flight back east to see my parents each way. Again I had to give up much and just do what was necessary with regard to anything that involved sitting.

By the time I had my last job I had undergone a discectomy at L5S1 and that rebulged, I had an annular tear at L3 that was symptomatic for a while and I had also undergone a failed percutaneous discectomy at L4 that left me with horrible burning pain that rain thru my buttocks, my legs and into my feet and it was 24/7. I was told that scar tissue at the sacral nerve roots caused clumping and then set off all the sacral nerves.. hence the horrendous burning pain that at one time labeled "arachnoiditis" but this pain eased off completely after 17 years (various treatments used during this period).

Ok so when I got my last job I weighed about 110 lbs.. I forgot to mention I have super flat feet (now have a prob re tendons because of that) and I had 2 surgeries on my right knee.

I tried the stability ball for sitting at home because it was sort of like a softer version of a rocking chair and it seemed to not bother my tailbone as much as sitting on anything else. I found a contraption that could be rigged to add a back to it for support however that was too difficult to maintain in place so just took it off and "sat" on my stability ball sort of rolling it about underneath me. Very good for CORE exercises.

But I have to say the only manner I could take pressure off my discs and my tailbone seemed to be in a semi reclining position with the beanbag chair yet that would not have worked at my computer station. Also I found that sitting like this rather upset my neck.

There are chairs at Relax the Back and some other stores that are pretty heavy duty the way they're made and one can sort of recline with knees bent and legs elevated (which should be very good for your lower extremities and feet re avoiding dependent pressure and swelling). Then you would have to have a monitor sort of suspended above you or use a laptop.

What you might find however is that you will have some increased strain and tiredness on your arms and wrists at a sort of funky angle. Also you have to have your neck supported well so that you don't increase the potential of inducing neck pain while trying to take care of your back pain.

These would be my suggestions based on my own experience. Good luck. I'm sure you can find some way to modify a station and work at it however not sure if your employer will go along with it though I would hope as long as you're able to do your job they will (re ADA and all that).

[puma]

Maria, I really appreciate the time that you took out to post your response. Very generous of you. Advice based on personal experience is so much more precious and priceless!

I am hoping that exercise will cure me of my disc pain in a month or two. Meanwhile, I am asking for a lighter laptop and plan to commute by bus rather than drive down or take a cab to my workplace. I hope that and the balance disc will help. If they don't, I will get on to Ayurvedic treatments. Here, in India, we believe a lot in the power of Ayurveda.

[Maria]

Puma,
Please share more if you've time and are so inclined. I have always been fascinated with India and wished I could travel there however my various injuries (esp. my back) have sort of squashed that dream.

I have in the past during phases of my back stuff (from age 28 to now at age 60) taken the bus on occasion and find that it is rather rough travel for me with great bouncing and jolting. Same with the train travel. It does however allow me to move about a bit more than if I were driving and stuck in one position for however long.

I used exercise thru out my injuries pretty much to help stay in shape. I now suffer from something called posterior tibial tendonitis in both feet and while I used to walk and walk and walk (which greatly helped my back) I now can hardly walk due to painful inflammation of the tendons that support my ankles.

Meanwhile trying to be mentally OK with this and just do what I have to get over a flare up (which I just threw myself into Monday after doing better with several months of PT for my feet).

Anyway wishing you the best with your endeavors to improve your spine or health in general~ and again if you feel like sharing please do! Maria