Dear Friends,

I must ask..... does sitting for any length of time hurt for any of you?
I am finding that standing or laying flat are about the only ways to ease the pain right above and below my collarbone. Any thoughts or responses would be appreciated. Have a great night ! Beth in Delaware

Hi Beth! For me, the biggest problem with sitting (along with standing, walking, etc.) is if my arm hangs without any support. When I am sitting I try to make sure I have a chair with arm rests, and/or a pillow in my lap. Laying flat for me is really difficult...in fact, I use an adjustable bed, and never have it completely flat.

Another thing about sitting for me is if I have pressure against my shoulder blade, like sitting in a hard-backed chair...that hurts, too; sometimes even the pressure from a soft chair against my shoulder blade is really uncomfortable.

When I'm in a lot of pain, I find lying down on my "good" side with pillows under my arm and my head raised a little is most comfortable, just to take the pulling pressure off my collarbone.

Take care...
Donna

Hi Beth-
I get back spasms from sitting. My mid and lower back just sort of 'go' after a while. On a good day I can sit for a few hours, on a bad day I can sit for about 10 minutes. If I go for too long I get a big knot by my left shoulder blade. It will stick with me until I take my hefty vicadin before bed, and if I sleep well it will go away by morning. Lidoderm patch also helps it.


I spent a long time explaining to my manager why I needed a super spiffy chair at work for exactly this reason. I change the position of it many times during a day so that my body is not stuck in one place. It also has a head rest which is critical. When my neck hurts I just recline for a while and rest my head. I get on the floor and stretch several times during the day, too.

I know that for me some of it is just muscle weakness. Mt PT is working in two directions- One to reduce movement restrictions that keep me from rotating properly in the shoulder, back, arms, and neck. (there are a LOT fo retrictions so this is a very long process) Two is some very gentle toning exercises to help me regain strength in abs, back, legs, and arms. And by very gentle I mean nobody else in the world but us tosers would actually call it exercise. What really scares me about that is how hard it is to do the exercises...when I see that, well, no wonder I can't sit up. *sigh*


Johanna

Hi Beth
This is probably more of the same, but sitting too long makes me hurt too. Its mainly my fault, becuase I'm having a problem correcting my habitual bad posture. I found that raising up my armrests helps, because having my arms unsupported while at the computer (all day) just doesn't work. Also, when I lay down, I lay on my good side and put a pillow between my arm and my body. It seems to help ALOT.
hope you're feeeling better
- Dabbo

I tend to get jiggy legs on long car rides or if chairs are uncomfortable {drs offices hate those chairs!}

Sunday worked under the house organizing -5'6" of headroom between beams- so have to stay semi bent over to not bang head on beams- plus moved a lot of heavy stuff around -
now low back/inside hip has a catch in it. {sacroiliac?}

Dabbo don't raise arm rests too high!
it can make for more shoulder problems and exacerbate some posture issues.
theres ergo sites in the sticky #1 at the bottom of it {i think or #2}

Sitting - yup bugs me too for a number of reasons. I have sore hips/SI Joint problems...so I tend to only sit for a hour at most at a time. If the chair back is high, like a few other people mentioned, and it hits my shoulder blade - instant pain! I think I just get stiff and with my bad posture (which gets worse as the day goes on) I just get sore.

I am off work now - I am hoping that helps. 8 hours a day at a desk was killing me....even with my frequent breaks to walk around. I had an ergo assessment done - got a new chair, adjusted it often, etc and I still had minimal to no relief.

THe problem with not having my armrests up high is that i then have my wrists or forearms constantly in contact with either my desk or my wrist wrest. I probably need to go check out those links , Jo. thank you!

I cant sit for very long - about 10-15 min and my hands turn red and begin to swell. It's the pressure on my back, even a soft chair - just the pressure on my shoulderblades hurts right thru to my collar bones. I sit on the edge of my desk-chair, not leaning on anything. I used to lean back on a pillow, but even that is bothersome by th time my 20min limit is up for computer typing.

Anne