These are the resources that have helped me make sense of my condition and find support.
Support
- Sitting Disabilities Facebook group: There are other people who know what it’s like. I have found this group to be a tremendous resource for recommendations and support.
- Sitting Disability USA Facebook group: Like the general group, but focused on the US.
- Can’t Sit: Living with a Sitting Disability: Resources and articles about living with a sitting disability. I credit this website for helping me realize that sitting disabilities were a thing. The man behind it, Rick Lunkenheimer, also wrote a book of the same name which chronicles his experiences.
Books
- Back Mechanic by Dr. Stuart McGill
- This is a must-read for anyone with back pain or sciatica. And as I wrote in my review, it’s also a good book for anyone who wants to prevent back pain. McGill focuses on the stresses that are placed on the spine during various movements and activities, and teaches people to move in ways that spare the spine.
- Can’t Sit: Living with a Sitting Disability by Rick Lunkenheimer
- This is the only book I’m aware of that is specifically about sitting disabilities. Until I read this book I had never heard anyone else express many of the thoughts I’d had, or talk about many of the challenges I faced. It helped me realize I’m not the only one trying to stand in a sitting world.
- Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin
- The author is an investigative journalist, and clearly more comfortable diving into business and governmental history than scientific research. I have many nits to pick, especially with the second half of the book, but I still found Crooked incredibly useful. I wish I’d read it before I agreed to several standard back pain treatments. It would have helped me set my expectations and ask better questions of my doctors.
Articles
- ‘Falling through the cracks’: recognising sitting disabilities by Pete Lampard & Tanya Bunsell
- As far as I know, this is the only article specifically about sitting disabilities that appears in an academic journal. Note, though, that Disability & Society is a social sciences journal rather than a medical journal.
- I am vertical: living with a sitting disability by Fernanda Dahlstrom
- Dahlstrom, an Australian writer, talks about her own sitting disability, and the challenges of finding social and legal support.
Formerly Recommended
- Yoga for Back Pain by Loren Fishman
- I used to swear by stretching as a way to control my sciatica. I’ve come to rethink that position, mainly due to Stuart McGill’s approach in which stretching (if not entirely eliminated) is approached judiciously. In Low Back Disorders (page 239), he writes, “Generally, for the injured back, spine flexibility should not be emphasized until the spine has stabilized and has undergone endurance and strength conditioning—and some may never reach this stage!”
- When I was stretching, I made good use of Dr. Fishman’s book, Yoga for Back Pain. Dr. Fishman includes full descriptions of each pose including modifications for practitioners of different ability levels. There are also accompanying photo illustrations.