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Question: My question is a bit embarrassing. I travel a lot for work. I suffer the normal pain on aeroplanes, taxis, trains etc. But by using a portable lumbar support I can overcome this. Sometimes when I'm away I get awful pain in my hip after I go to the toilet which is much worse than in the back. Maybe I'm being foolish but it always seems to happen then. Am I being foolish? Veronica Stacey (November 3, 2000).
Answer No you are not being foolish. In all likelihood the toilets that are causing the pain are much lower than the normal. A couple of inches would make a big difference. This would mean that you are sitting with the angle between your spine and your thighs at a very acute angle. Some car seats are like this. When the angle is a lot less than ninety degrees great stress is put on your lower back and can result in a tweaking of the sciatic nerve. I don't know the way around your problem. There is a product you can buy to raise the height of a toilet, but it's not the sort of thing you'd carry around in your luggage. Colm Campbell.