Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion Careers, Jobs & Spondylitis Pain relief tips at work?

Hello,

Although it took nearly 10 years and most thought it would be impossible, I finally got off disability a year ago from an unrelated medical condition. I was diagnosed with AS about 5 years ago and have tried several medicines. I am now trying remicade with methotrexate. It has been difficult to work from the beginning. I work in an office setting, but sometimes have to walk far distances for meetings. As you know, sitting for long periods and walking long distances is painful. I don't want to go back on disability. I find that not working is more devastating than AS. Besides drugs, what techniques have you used to decrease the pain at work?

Hi

I would recommend consulting a PT or a trainer for a stretching and strengthening program one which you can do at work. By increasing these you increase your endurance and increase blood flow to muscles and joints thereby increasing oxygen delivery. This reduces pain in every muscle. It may take a while but a few sessions should give you skills and if you do them faithfully you will get results. In addition, if you can the long acting tylenol in the am can relieve the acute pain. I would give both a six month trial under your doctors knowledge and see if it helps. Finally heated massage for the chair can be helpful you can put a jacket over it and plug it in only when needed if you are concerned about using it at work....good luck I am really glad that you got back to work....!!

I keep a heating pad at work. Mine's the microwaveable kind, because I prefer a moist heat, but I probably wouldn't use it if my seat at work was near anyone else's. The buckwheat filling smells a bit rank when heated up.

I also thankfully have a job that requires a mix of sitting and standing, so I try to mix those tasks up throughout the day to avoid doing too much of either at one time. Maybe see if your workspace can be made to accommodate an adjustable desk, so you can sit or stand as your body demands. Also, make sure you have a comfortable chair. These changes should fall under the reasonable accommodations that your employer is required to provide, if I understand correctly.

I go and do stretches in the restroom when necessary, as I feel awkward doing so in front of my coworkers.

I also have a heating pad at work. Mine is the plug-in kind, which I prefer since the heat is consistent and lasts longer. I sit in a cubicle but this works fine.

I use a laptop at work so I set up a "standing workstation" for myself - the computer is on top of a filing cabinet with a couple of reams of paper under it to get it to the right height for me to comfortably work on it. Switching from sitting to standing definitely helps.

When I do stretches I do them in the stairwell - a stair is the perfect height for hamstring exercises - and few use the stairs as I'm in a 9 story office building.

But really, if pain is making it very hard to get through the day, you need to work with a pain management doc to see about trying some pain meds on top of the Remicade (or until the Remicade kicks in.) I keep mine at work in case the need arises (I don't normally take them regularly during the day, but only at bedtime.)

I am using a heating pad now, and getting a treadmill workstation soon. I will let you know how that works for me!

I am in sales and on the road most of the day. I have a heat pad that plugs into my usb and that helps. I also always carry a soft neck collar and SI brace and cane in the car just in case. I do arm and shoulder stretches at red lights. I also so alot of stretches when I get out of the car. It is a bit weird looking but screw it lol. I also take a lot of different pain meds. stretching is the best I find. I think this is a topic I will add to my channel- thank you

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCApkyc8seTyi09VyGe_uxmg?view_as=subscriber

Welcome to the forums. I appreciate your being here and contributing.

Please do not advertise your blog constantly. This is a non profit forum that took decades of resources to build and shouldn’t be used to constantly encourage people to leave this site to to go to other sites. The SAA has plenty of videos and would encourage you and everyone to view and add to our community’s videos rather than leave our community for outside sites.

I’ve seen about 9 posts in the past 24 hours about your blog.