Pain in tailbone? There’re ways to help relieve it
Tailbone pain (coccydynia) occurs in or around the bony structure at the bottom of the spine (coccyx). It can be caused due to several reasons; the commonest being the spinal abnormalities, disc issues, trauma to the coccyx during a fall, prolonged sitting on a hard or narrow surface (pain is usually worse on leaning back while seated), degenerative joint changes, or vaginal childbirth.
The location of the coccyx makes it particularly susceptible to internal injury during childbirth, especially during a difficult or instrumented delivery.
In many of coccydynia cases, there have been a prior injury to the tailbone, like a fall hitting onto a hard surface. The pain could have started right at the time of the fall or the problem could have slowly progressed to become painful months or even years after the event. Very often the spinal joints above (at the lumbar spine) can refer pain down into the tailbone.
Tailbone pain can feel dull and achy but typically becomes sharp during certain activities, such as sitting, rising from a seated to a standing position. How we sit in the chair makes a big difference as to how the whole body works, and it’s smart to look more closely at sitting posture. Chairs that only lean backward may not be best when work moves the body forward.
A chair with a forward tilt may support good spine postures better when the work is forward, because the pressure is carried through more of the thigh while the spine is upright.
Possible treatments for chronic tailbone pain include, modified wedge-shaped cushions which can relieve the pressure on the coccyx while sitting. Training patients to adopt proper sitting posture can help prevent this. The application of heat and cold over the site also may be beneficial.
For the few cases that do not respond to these conservative treatments, more aggressive treatments may be indicated.
As coccydynia is associated with pelvic floor muscle spasm, physical therapist can help you to do pelvic floor relaxation exercises which can eventually relieve the pain. Moreover, manual techniques can be administered to relieve muscular spasm or ligament pain. As a last resort, one can go for manipulation too which is done through the rectum.
In a nutshell, one need not worry as there are many treatments available, but it’s advisable to get the treatment done ASAP.