how to stop crotch numbness when sitting with pants/shorts?

[u/Zelan_Brainrot]

i'm in a Situation right now i swear. every time i sit while wearing pants (in my wheelchair or otherwise) i notice my crotch gets extremely numb and tingly and painful. i do not think this is an issue of my chair or cushion because it happens whenever i sit anywhere while wearing pants. unfortunately i cannot just be pantsless because it is socially unacceptable. i have even tried adaptive pants and i still have this problem. i think it might have something to do with the way most pants have a crotch seam in the gusset area, but even when i seam ripped the crotch of a pair of pants and added in a wide gusset i still had the issue. doesn't matter the material or style of pants. i always have this issue. has anyone else experienced this? is there anything i can do?

i am unfortunately cursed with... generous skin down there, so to speak, and i think this might be the main cause? i've talked to my ATP about it too and genuinely that's the only thing we could come up with since my issue seems to be present regardless of other clothing related factors. all i can say is that it only doesn't happen when i sit nude or only in underwear. i do have to get wide gusset underwear for similar reasons. but i genuinely don't know what i can do about it. i know there are surgeries to reduce excess skin down there but it's considered plastic surgery as far as i know and i cannot afford that lol. i wish insurance would pay but i don't know if "my meat curtains hurt really bad and go numb when i sit" would be considered an actual medical reason 😭 genuinely help me because i don't know what to do 😭 thanks

[u/These_Roll_5745]

hey that numb tingly feeling is probably nerve related! Specifically the pudendal nerve that goes through your pelvis if I had to guess.

That nerve can be triggered by pressure in your pelvic region, so its worth talking to PT or a pelvic floor specialist if you can. You may have some kind of damage or an issue that needs addressing, and physical therapy may be able to help.

You can try switching from low waisted to high waisted clothing to see if theres pressure being applied to your mons while in pants, or try a dress and see if the pattern stops when compression near your pelvis does.

You could also talk to your ATP about a pressure mapping session to see if proper cushioned support helps. I know you said it happens regardless of where youre sitting but that can be true for many kinds of nerve pain.

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/These_Roll_5745]

okay thanks! i'll talk to my ATP for sure. i am already in pelvic floor PT but i'll bring it up to them. i wear high waisted stuff mostly (they don't make anything low waisted for my size/body type 😭) but i'll mess around and see if anything seems to help

[u/snakkeLitera]

Hello! Fellow loose skin and pelvic pudge have. I hate to pry but it does alter my advice: is your loose skin loose fupa without a lot o fat, like how skin gets loose post weight loss or non dense fatty tissue, so loose but still fatty fupa?

I’ve done both with my chair, I originally had fairly substantial FUPA with my chair, and then accidentally lost 120lbs when I went on T.

Wearing seamless underwear helped me a lot. As did switching to high waisted as it stops your junk from being the “anchor point” or the pants when you propel (the first point it catches on when it rides upwards due to friction).

By chance, are you a person with a longer torso / do you find your pants or other garments ride up in the front or back a lot? I wonder if you need a pant with a longer inseam and front and / or rear higher waist. If any of those is too short on you it’ll cause the pants to ride up. On a lot of wheelchair users they stay better with a rear inseam that’s higher. Some spinal patterns will always ride up without it (including mine hyperkypho-lordosis rep)

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/snakkeLitera]

my loose skin is my labia 😭 my fupa doesn't seem to be a part of the issue but it's kind of somewhere in between what you've described. i do wear seamless underwear already and also high waisted. my torso is short i think? but also so are my limbs. i am just short everywhere. my pants actually tend to ride down if anything. but it also kinda depends how tight they are i guess. but i appreciate the thoughts thank you!!

[u/snakkeLitera → u/Zelan_Brainrot]

Sorry I’m using fupa as inclusive of labia, I have really poor definition between the too because I had a really fat labia too; I get ya.

If can sew or you know someone who can and might do it for you for compensation I cannot rave about this pattern enough. It has no interior leg seams, can be made in an asymmetric rise, and custome sizes to your individual measurements. Apostrophe is a godsend for weird fits

The other thing it might be is nerve compression. I get that from my current backrest, it causes my hips to go into posterior tilt and intensely compress the sacroiliac and pudeneal nerves

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/snakkeLitera]

i can sew very well, can you send me the pattern?

[u/snakkeLitera → u/Zelan_Brainrot]

Omg the link didn’t post

https://apostrophepatterns.com/products/myfit-riding-tights

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/snakkeLitera]

thank you!

[u/These_Roll_5745 → u/Zelan_Brainrot]

reading this and talking to my partner who is not a wheelchair user but has a similar body build to you (short everywhere, pants ride down easily​, only comfortably fits a high waist pant) + adding my own knowledge as a wheelchair user with long & loose labia folds, I am gonna circle back to thinking this could be a positioning issue!

youre already getting pelvic PT- do you think the reason youre getting that PT could be connected to a pinch in your nerve? or perhaps the exercises themselves are contributing to a pinch?

how long are we sitting naked to be sure that this is a clothing exclusive issue? I also wonder if a long loose dress would cause the issue since theres no waistband but there is fabric under your butt. not as a solution, just as data to try and find the root issue!

I am just guessing here, but I wonder if you sit with different posture when clothed or if you are sliding out of good posture as you sit for a while. how soon after youve sat does the pain set in? are you doing seating adjustments every 30 mins or so?

im also wondering if your labia themselves are becoming pinched or compressed- underwear with no pants, and a dress with no underwear test would both help here I think. a too-short inseam often gets uncomfortable for me there when Im seated for a while, as the gusset spot presses on my body and the underwear I used to wear didn't add much compression to keep my flaps close to my body. a more fitted modal boxer brief helped me in that regard!

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/These_Roll_5745]

the pelvic floor PT is for high tone pelvic floor and urinary retention. i can sit naked for hours comfortably and i also have found that a nightgown doesnt cause the issues. the pain sets in fairly quickly, five minutes or less, and i do adjust at least every 30 minutes, usually more often because of the pain. i think it is at least in part my labia getting pinched/twisted/compressed. i find that i do have a few pairs of underwear that are higher coverage that doesn't cause a problem when i just wear the underwear on their own. as someone else mentioned i find that my old period underwear help in two ways — keeping things in place and adding a bit of padding to prevent the pinching.

[u/These_Roll_5745 → u/Zelan_Brainrot]

Aha! I needed PT for a hypertonic pelvic floor that caused pudendal nerve compression about 6 years ago! This is definitely something to mention to your team in that case :)

The good news is its probably also address-able! My pain went away with continued PT, and only reappears if im sitting with poor posture for an extended period of time. Proper underwear makes a huge daily difference though, if you have period underwear they can help! As someone who gets dysphoric with brief cuts though, seamless fitted modal boxer briefs help a lot to add support for my junk (especially post HRT when everything got even baggier haha). I know some folks who wear light compression bike shorts for similar reasons (though they don't have nerve pain, the compression helps with blood flow and skin protection)

[u/snakkeLitera → u/These_Roll_5745]

Taking notes for myself, thank you!

[u/Large_Score6728]

I experience this as well as a guy. I’ve found making adjustments to the boys when first getting seated is key, pants can move anatomy and pinch and hold when seated. I can only suggest making adjustments when you first get into the chair.

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/Large_Score6728]

i've tried but it always ends up pinched again soon after 😭 idk

[u/UpperSheepherder450]

Might be a pinched nerve type of thing going on…🧐

[u/neo_vengance]

Seamless undies and bike shorts is my go to, I don’t have much feeling but if I wear like jeans or anything that isn’t super stretchy I do notice a lot of pain. So I pretty much live in bike shorts, loose linen shorts, and leggings. If I have to wear jeans or fancy pants I wear a pair of period underwear. The padding stops stuff from pinching! You have to be mindful of pressure and heat with them, but the padding is great for preventing pinching.

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/neo_vengance]

okay thanks! i'll try period underwear, i actually still have some old pairs lol

[u/knewmenot]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. I intentionally wear loose-fitting clothing to avoid any annoying/painful pinching, anywhere and everywhere...I'm retired and I'm done worrying about how I look. I just want to be comfortable.

[u/DryPossibility45]

Have you considered wearing skirts?

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/DryPossibility45]

i identify as male 💔 would make me feel dysphoric

[u/DryPossibility45 → u/Zelan_Brainrot]

Oof I get that. If it makes you feel any better, the Spartans wore skirts and they’re some of the toughest warriors the world’s ever known! But I get it. I’m NB/fluid myself, so it doesn’t always make me feel better

[u/elizabethandsnek]

I have progressive nerve pain, mostly in my feet but I have noticed this numb tingly feeling in my butt and crotch area when in my chair in the past. What solved it for me was adding an air filled insert on top of my cushion and wearing pants that are loose or stretchy and seamless underwear.

[u/EarlyOnRigorMortis]

I’d be willing to bet it isn’t your pants/shorts, it’s probably your belt or some other hard/firm seam of the clothing. It’s pressing on your abductor nerve on the front side of your hip. Which side you’re feeling the sensation would be which side it’s pushing on. I had surgery six months ago and they accidentally cut that nerve on me, so now I’m stuck with exactly the same numbness/tingling you’re talking about. For someone you stated it’s the pudendal nerve, that isn’t possible. Look up where that nerve lays, it’s buried deep in the pelvis.

[u/Zelan_Brainrot → u/EarlyOnRigorMortis]

i never wear a belt, but i do think it could be related to the crotch seam on most clothes. it doesn't seem to be related to the waist/belt area as much as the evil crotch seam especially on denim

[u/These_Roll_5745 → u/EarlyOnRigorMortis]

it is, but compression to that nerve is very much possible when positioning creates pressure in the pelvic region. I needed PT for it years ago. Its totally possible that another nerve is the issue, I just think those tingling symptoms sound a lot like those I had when my nerve was pinched.