Sitting disability

A sitting disability is a condition in which a person may not be able to sit, usually due to pain, but can also happen to persons sitting in wheelchairs. It is also known as "reduced ability to sit", "sitting problems" or "inability to sit."

Sitting disability has generally been an unrecognized disability. It is also not a well known concept, though the symptoms themselves are common for people with severe back pain. The disabilities usually mentioned in research and legal documents are reduced mobility and visual or auditory impairments.

Pain while sitting is a well known symptom when having ischial tuberosity pain, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, coccyx pain (coccydynia), failed back surgery, Arachnoiditis, and back pain in general. An inability to sit is one of the signs of chronic low back pain. Low back pain is a condition that affects a large part of the general United States population at some point in life. 65 to 80% of Americans have an episode of low back pain at some time in their lives. Although most cases resolve quickly, 40% recur and 5% result in a residual disability after 1 year.

In the U.S., acute low back pain (also called lumbago) is the fifth most common reason for all physician visits. About nine out of ten adults experience back pain at some point in their life, and five out of ten working adults have back pain every year.

With several severe pain syndromes, like neuralgia or Pelvic Pain (Symphysis pubis dysfunction), pain during pregnancy or after given birth, the pain can be aggravated by sitting.

It is possible to get Social Security benefits for a sitting disability. Several medical conditions that can cause difficulty sitting are back injuries, sciatica, Arachnoiditis, and piriformis syndrome.

Sitting problems are usually an invisible disability. This combined with the fact that reduced ability to sit is not mentioned in research or anti-discrimination laws, makes it even harder for people to live with this kind of impairment.

A person with a sitting disability caused by excessive pain, is unable to sit or stand for long periods of time, and will need to lie down. The availability of benches or other devices where one may lie down may be a critical factor that determines whether a means of transportation or a public building is usable or not for many people with this form of disability. Public buildings and transportation such as flying are often inaccessible to people with severe sitting problems. People with both sitting- and mobility problems may have to use a wheelbench, which is usually too large to fit into an elevator.

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Wikipedia