Treatment For Tailbone Pain

How To Help Yourself With Tailbone Pain?

Tailbone pain can make every little movement uncomfortable. The coccyx, a small triangular bone at the bottom of the vertebrae, can get bruised and even fractured. tailbone pain from sitting increases but feel relieves when walking.

You can also feel sore when using the restroom or having sexual intercourse. Women can feel irritation during their periods as well. The pain can occasionally spread all the way down the legs. Standing or walking can alleviate the pressure on the tailbone and ease the pain.

So, what is the treatment for tailbone pain?

Rest or some exercises can help relieve tailbone pain. Physiotherapists can provide an excellent treatment plan to recover from it.

Tailbone Pain – A Major Contributor to Back Pain

According to a study published in the journal Radiology, 2000 cases of back pain in hospitals showed that 2.7% of them presented as coccydynia. Tailbone pain happens five times more commonly in women than in men. It can happen at any age with the average age of onset being about 40. Race or ethnicity do not show any prevalent trends.

What Causes A Tailbone To Hurt?

A tailbone can begin hurting after something as mundane as sitting on a hard chair or other uncomfortable areas for extended periods of time. Falls, injuries, and traumas can also bruise, dislocate, or fracture a tailbone, resulting in pain.

Joint injury from repetitive movement or wear and tear with aging can also result in tailbone pain. During a final pregnancy trimester, the ligaments attached to and surrounding the coccyx naturally loosen to make space for a baby which can cause tailbone pain as well.

People who are obese or overweight are more prone to tailbone issues. Conversely, losing excessive weight too quickly can lose the tissue insulation and protection around the tailbone, which can result in tailbone pain. Moreover, in rare instances, an infection or tumor can result in tailbone pain.

How do you diagnose tailbone pain?

You should consult your doctor if the pain is intense or stays for more than a few days. In most cases, tailbone pain isn’t a serious issue. The pain can be indicative of any injury or lower back disease.

Your doctor will collect your history and conduct a physical exam. He or she will then ask for an X-ray to check for signs of injury like any bone fractures. X-ray images can be taken both while sitting and standing to demonstrate possible issues with your tailbone in various positions.

How do you treat tailbone pain?

Tailbone pain medication

The pain can take a few days, weeks or months to heal as the tailbone injury resolves on its own. You can use over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to alleviate your pain until the tailbone heals.

For more intense pain, your doctor can provide a local anesthetic, nerve block, steroidal medication or a combination of the three that can be injected in the affected area.

Sitting position

To help with the pain, sitting on a heat or ice pack can help. Poor posture can add too much pressure on the tailbone. You should sit while leaning against the back of a chair with your feet flat on the ground to get the load off your coccyx. Lean forward while sitting on a specially designed donut-shaped pillow or wedge-shaped cushion so that your lower back can feel more comfortable.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy can help you take part in exercises to improve your muscle strength and support your coccyx. The stomach muscles and pelvic floor muscles are the main targets for this therapy. You can also use a method known as tailbone manipulation in which a doctor inserts a gloved finger into the rectum to move the coccyx back and forth to set it back in the right position.

Physiotherapy and Tailbone Pain

One of our client which I won’t name suffered from coccyx pain since giving birth to her son. She felt constant soreness in her tailbone region as well as tenderness while sitting down on my tailbone. She assumed that the pain would heal on its own, but the pain remained for another six months.

Finally, she decided to go see a physiotherapist for some help. After consistent sessions, she was finally able to sit, stand and move around with minimal pain and soreness.

At Pillars of Wellness, we offer you different services including chiropractic, physiotherapy, acupuncture, yoga, speech therapy and much more. You can benefit from a consultation if you hav tailbone pain or other injuries.