What I Wish I'd Known About Sitting With Endometriosis
I handle marketing and brand strategy for Cushion Your Assets, so it would be fair to assume this article is my job talking. It isn't. I came to this company as the person working behind the scenes, and somewhere along the way I became one of its biggest believers.
This is the part of endometriosis I didn’t learn about from any doctor or online resource. It's an aspect of this disease that didn’t get addressed until I tried the Twin Cheeks Cushion.
This is my story, and I hope it helps you find some answers and relief.
— Chrisie Allen
Marketing Director at Cushion Your Assets
The year it all caught up with me
In March of 2025, I had an ovarian cyst rupture. The pain was so intense that I ended up in urgent care, where there wasn't much anyone could do beyond over-the-counter pain relief and instructions to wait it out. Shout out to anyone who’s experienced this—it can be unbearable.
Waiting it out didn't work. When the pain hadn't eased up days later, I went to the hospital. Imaging showed the ruptured cyst, an endometrioma on the opposite ovary, and a fibroid on the outside of my uterus about the size of a small orange. Doctors mentioned endometriosis and referred me to an OBGYN. I learned from the surgeon that laparoscopic surgery was the only way to confirm it, and he would remove whatever was there.
Some backstory: I started working from home not even a year earlier after launching my own business. I went from constantly being on the go to spending most of my time in a chair. I was also coming out of a few very difficult years of chronic stress and trauma.
I'd also come off birth control about four years earlier, after being on it since seventeen for painful periods. For all those years, it kept my symptoms quiet. Without it, and after those few years of sustained stress… the silent progression surfaced all at once.
Stage 4 endo, post ablation surgery, and still hurting
The surgery confirmed it. I had extensive, deeply invasive stage 4 endometriosis. My surgeon told me it was among the most he had ever seen. I got to look at the photos afterward, all those dark lesions mapped across my organs… it was a lot to take in. 😔
The frustrating part about ablation surgery… it didn't end the pain for me. Months later I was still hurting and feeling pretty defeated about it.
If you've lived with this disease too you might be able to relate.
Rebuilding from the inside out
That summer I made some big changes. I ended a toxic relationship and put my energy into getting well. I moved back to Scottsdale, Arizona to rebuild my life and focus on healing.
Around then I found the book Heal Endo by Katie Edmonds, and it opened my mind to a whole new definition of endometriosis. My boyfriend's mother at the time mailed it to me before my surgery. She knew what I was facing and wanted to help. It remains one of the most thoughtful, useful gifts anyone has ever given me.
The book Heal Endo by Katie Edmonds
Learning how to reduce inflammation in my body
Heal Endo changed how I understood what was going on in my body. Endometriosis isn't only a reproductive problem—it's a systemic, inflammatory disease that involves the entire body. Katie shares through personal experience and extensive research that the best thing you can do for endo is to lower inflammation and stress over time. Endometriosis has no cure, but remission is possible.
If Katie Edmonds is new to you, I strongly recommend you look her up.
So I went to work. I cleaned up how I ate. I started moving again in small, doable ways after being sedentary for so long. I found a physical therapy meets hot yoga studio called PhysioYoga in Scottsdale, and worked with an amazing online fitness coach, Rosetta Riley, who trains women around their hormonal cycles instead of against them. She works especially with women who have issues like ours.
I was experiencing hip pain like I never had before. Rotating my right leg inward or outward was limited and the pain was sharp. Sitting cross-legged on the floor was hard. Eventually, walking was hard too. I was never completely certain whether it what because of my endo or something else, but it hung around long after surgery.
The solution to pelvic pain no one told me about
Here's where my story turns.
I changed my food, started exercising again, and seriously reduced my stress levels, and yeah things were slowly improving. But I never stopped to consider how much time I spent sitting in the wrong kind of chair.
I work from my computer, so naturally I'm sitting for hours every day. I started to experiment with different chair and cushion options including a balance ball and a memory foam donut cushion, but they didn’t help. Even while I was breaking up my sitting with movement, I never fully realized that the surface underneath me was working against everything else I was doing.
Every time I got back into the wrong chair, the damage was happening all over again.
The wrong cushion
The REALLY wrong chair
When I started working with Cushion Your Assets, Trudy sent me one of her patented pelvic pain cushions so I could try it myself. I set the Twin Cheeks Cushion on my desk chair and used it every day—mostly without thinking about it.
The design is simple once you see it. Two firm panels carry the fleshy part of you, while your tailbone, perineum, and pelvic floor rest suspended in the open channel between them. It isn't just padding—it redirects weight off sensitive areas.
The Twin Cheeks Cushion at my desk
I almost didn’t notice how fast the pain decreased
The shift was gradual enough that I nearly missed it. The ache I used to feel in my hips, walking, sitting, even sleeping, slowly stopped showing up. One afternoon I was on the floor doing my workout and noticed my hip rotation started to open back up. I could move through ranges that had been off-limits for months.
Let me be clear—the cushion didn't cure my pelvic pain. What it did was take away one constant, daily source of aggravation I didn’t realize was there before.
For a body that's already inflamed, removing that pressure was not a small thing.
I use it everywhere now. I bring it when I travel and I can feel the difference when I forget it, because within a few days the old ache starts creeping back. It has never returned to where it was, but it's a steady reminder that the surface I sit on plays a big part in my pain.
Working next to my sister at her office, cushion along for the ride.
I take it everywhere now. Here it is folded up on a trip to San Francisco.
Endo warriors: if you work from home, please try this.
If you have endometriosis or unexplained pelvic pain and you spend your days at a desk… even if you are consistent about moving, doing light exercises during breaks, going for walks to get your blood flowing… if you go back to the same surface and it’s not supporting you in the right way, it might be time to invest in the right seat cushion for your condition.
It likely won’t fix everything on its own. For me, the real change came from a combination of diet, exercise, and lowering my stress levels. But easing the pressure while I sit was the piece I was missing. For someone who sits as much as I do, it made the difference.
Not sure yet? Start here with our Free Pelvic Pain Guide.
If you're early in your search for answers, our free guide, Navigating Pelvic Pain, is a practical place to begin: what to ask, what to try, and how to advocate for yourself when it feels like no one is listening.
Join our email list below and you’ll get a copy of it.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult qualified healthcare providers for personalized medical guidance.
About Cushion Your Assets:
We understand the frustration of navigating the healthcare system with chronic sitting pain—our founder Trudy Jackson lived it. That's why we created both therapeutic cushions to relieve pressure where it matters most AND a Provider Directory to help you find the specialists who can actually help. We're here to support your entire healing journey.
