I sit for most of the day at my job taking/making phone calls and my tailbone has started hurting. I went to the doctor about it and he just prescribed me some naproxyn to alleviate the pain. Obviously this is not a cure though and it is proving not to be much of a cure now that I have had to stop taking the naproxyn (it did a real number on my stomach).
So all you INAD and IADs, what do you suggest?
I actually broke (shattered) mine in a horseback riding incident. There is nothing they can do aside from pain killers. You could sit on a donut or some other cushy surface. That’s about all you’re going to get in the way of relief.
I bruised mine once, took several months before the pain went away. Not much to do other than to try to keep pressure off of it. Do a google search for “coccyx cushion” and you should find various cushions (and other devices) designed to do just that.
I broke my coccyx a few years back, while kayaking (think “rock enema” and you’ll be halfway there). Yeah, it hurts. No, there’s not much you can do.
My doctor actually told me, “Try to stay off of it for a while”. Thanks, doc. :rolleyes:
I’m assuming this is at work.
Does your company have an ergonomics consultant? Some companies do - presumably because it’s cheaper to train someone for that than to pay out costly lawsuits or worker’s comp. If so, set up a free consultation.
I’ve been told that poor posture is a contributing factor to this. Certainly seems to be true in my case, along with being overweight.
My pain (nearly 40 years later) was worse when I was too thin. I had no cushion and couldn’t sit straight on it for more than a minute or so. Constantly fidgiting.
Naproxen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are more than just pain relievers. When taken regularly for a few weeks, they reduce the swelling and inflammation (to a certain extent) in tissue. So you may want to discuss with your doc whether or not there are other strategies or medications that can help you get the inflammation-fighting benefit.
Of course, time usually does as good for traumatic inflammation too. It just takes a bit longer.
Otherwise I tell my patients to use a cushion or rubber doughnut when sitting, use heat or ice, whichever works best for them, and avoid prolonged pressure on the tochis.
Some chiropractors will stick a finger up your butt and poke at it for awhile. My ex got that treatment once after having her legs slip out from under her. It was worse than useless, of course, but it made her feel like she was doing something about it.
Last December my legs slipped out from under me on a slippery wheelchair ramp (oh, the irony). I bruised my tailbone and compacted my spine. To be honest, the compacted spine was so bad, I didn’t notice the tailbone for a day or so! The doc at emergency said it would take 4 - 6 weeks to heal and there was nothing but painkillers to do about it. After two months and to be honest, some nagging by hyperchondriachal older sister, I went to an osteopath (in NZ, they seem to be very similar to physios). He said it would be more likely 4 - 6 months to heal and stretching the quads, hams, inner thighs and gluts would help with the healing.
Not sure if this would apply to the tailbone too, but it feels like they both improve with stretching. It has now been 6 months and I still have pain if I walk more than 30 mins or other vigorous exercise (nudge nudge, wink wink) but this is more the spine than the tailbone.
To summarize - have you tried stretching these leg muscles, as they support the back and it might just help the tailbone.
I used to suffer from tailbone pain that began after I rode my bicycle sitting upright on a hard seat over bumpy pavement. For years there was nothing I could do about it. Then finally I somehow (impossible to describe adequately) tensed my buttocks and lower back in a way that made something in there go CRACK loudly, and had immediate relief. The only lingering symtom now is that I’ve had massage therapists who were working on my lower back and buttucks tell me I have the most mobile coccyx they’ve ever seen.