Traveling With Sciatica: The Packing Essentials That Relieve Pressure and Pain

01.04.2024 - 14:21 / cntraveler.com

Traveling with sciatica can be a huge pain in the butt—literally. Unless you’ve been lucky enough to score a business class seat where you can stretch your legs out and do what you need to do to get comfortable, the thought of debilitating nerve pain in a tiny airplane seat or train car is enough to swear off long-haul treks entirely.

“Sciatica typically occurs when inflammation or tight muscle and tissues are compressing your sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower spine, through the middle of your buttock muscles and down the back of your thigh,” says Dr. Sara Reardon, owner of NOLA Pelvic Health, a pelvic floor physical therapy clinic in New Orleans. “It typically occurs on one side, although it can occur on both.”

"When low back and buttock muscles or tissues are tense or tight, they compress and irritate your nerve, which can cause sharp shooting pain in the buttocks and down the back of your thigh," Dr. Reardon says. This typically worsens with certain activities like prolonged sitting, staying in one position for a long time (hello, long flights), and getting up and down from your seat or squatting to pick up a piece of luggage. These are postures and activities required for travel and can exacerbate sciatica nerve pain.

Unfortunately for me—a full-time travel writer and generally active person—I developed a serious case of sciatica alongside psoriatic arthritis during the midst of the pandemic and was unsure how I would ever be able to handle a long flight again; at that time, the simple act of driving to the grocery store left me in agony.

I eventually found the right combination of therapy and medication to get most of my pain under control for day-to-day activities, but my sciatic nerve pain will still flare up when I sit for too long. This isn’t usually an issue at home, when I can stand and stretch my legs or go for a walk whenever I need to (or work from my couch with my legs completely outstretched)—but on long-haul flights in a window seat? That’s a whole different story.

I had to get creative and find products that would make traveling with sciatica bearable—which, in my opinion, is well worth the additional items on my packing list. Below, I’ve rounded up some of the travel gear that brings me the most relief while on long flights in economy. I won’t lie: I still try to upgrade to business class as frequently as possible to take advantage of the extra leg room, but the following items do make long flights in smaller airplane seats much more comfortable.

This article has been updated with new information since its original publish date.

Sciatica is a condition where the sciatic nerve—which comes out of the lower spine—moves through the muscles in the hips and provides nerve