Painful Coccyx

[mike22csus]

Have trouble from sitting to standing, pain shoots around my coccyx. I havent fallen, and have to constantly now move from right to left buttock when sitting. Cant sit for long time, now its minutes. No trouble with bending etc.
Any ideas for relief?

 

[GoT MiLk?]

Coccyx pain, as well as trauma to the area, it can be referred pain from the lumbar-sacral joint. This is where the lumbar spine meets the sacrum and where, normally, we have our lowest intervertebral disk.

I would say that the three most common causes are;

From a disk injury at this level

One of the small facet joints at the back of the spine, same level & giving referred pain, or

Local trauma to the pelvis or coccyx it's self that could be from a variety of causes, not just falls. i.e. child birth, sex, etc. []

You can get a cushion with a hole in it, if you've found that local pressure aggravates and an osteopath could diagnose & treat you for the above, if appropriate.

Good luck - Andrew.

 

[neggandbattlemaster]

PS Many people seem confuse the sacrum with the coccyx, so best clarify - the coccyx is right underneath.

Andrew.

 

[Franky D]

Well its that area, the pain shoots up and down from there anyway?

Like i said, no fall, my last child was via a casearean, allthough my previous 6 and a half years ago was a traumatic birth which ended with a casearean. The only thing i can say can it be postural? I noticed the pain when my daughter died in October, it came about 2 months after. The only thing i put it down to is where she was disabled she sat on myknee, and i had to sit a certain way. When she died, i suppose i took a more relaxed way of sitting?
Although even on this ipright computer chair i feel the pain, and dread when i have to stand.
I have read about the cushions, and might have to invest in one, is that it then for the rest of my life, take my cushion with the hole about with me?


Thanks for your speedy reply........

 

[ishootbirds2]

Hi,

I agree; and I normally refer my clients to an osteopath or chiropractor to shift the bones back to where they belong. Then I would follow up by massage with EFT. Lower back pain also is an indication of muscles holding up the body that are weakened, which need core conditioning exercise like Pilates, Swiss Ball, or Reebok Core.

You can get some immediate relief by the application of EFT - have a look at www.emofree.com and download it free. Then please contact your local osteo or chiro and a massage therapist. Just one visit to each is usually needed, and it saves you hassle in the long run.

As someone who has suffered and ignored back pain in the past, I hope you get it sorted soon; it's not very nice not being able to sit properly.

 

[Puffy]

I have a similar problem which started as lower back pain to one side, it also spread round the front to my hip and also the other side and I get the most awful sharp pain deep down when I stand up having been sitting on a firmish chair for a while.

Osteopathy didn't help for me unfortunately. I have recently been seeing a one to one pilates instructor. He has told me pretty much what Suzanne said. My superficial muscles are so tight, but the core muscles are weak. I have an over-exaggerated dip in the small of my back.

I have just been doing core breathing (through my stomach) for several weeks. I have had to stop all body conditioning on my stomach and chest whilst the muscles release and then I will be able to start strengthening from the inside out. I still a local pain in my lower back, but not nearly as bad, but I think we have stopped it spreading to all these other areas.

I have one of those seat pads with the hole in it (bought from Innovations I think). It is tilted slightly, although I feel it could be firmer as the tilt gets squashed when you sit on it. I have it on my computer chair at home and it does help.

Lesley

 

[annoleUnemy]

To be honest they both sound like referred pain from the low back & Lesley's especially sounds like a disk injury.

The cushion may still help, as nerve signals pass both ways and can get stuck in an overexcited loop. []

Methinks that you really aught to get it looked at as soon as poss. Even if it does turn out to be a coccyx problem, then an osteopath should be able to help.

So it's good advice from Suzanne, but one osteopathic treatment is being a bit optimistic, especially if a disk is involved. That said massage is excellent to have between treatments.

Andrew.

 

[Pinkboots]

Im no expert on this, but i am just wondering whether you may have something called coccydinia (there are a number of different spellings of it, i think that this one is correct, also try coccydynia). My mam was diagnosed with this a few years ago, and basically it is when the coccyx gets inflamed after sitting for long periods of time or on hard surfaces. it can be anything from mild discomfort to acute pain and can follow after falls, childbirth, repetitive strain or surgery, and sometimes has unknown causes, which was my mams situtation.Im sorry for the lack of info, but this is all i know, perhaps a search on msn or ntl or google may help you find out more. This website may help you although it does not have very much specific information:
[link=http://www.coccyx.org/whatisit/index.htm]http://www.coccyx.org/whatisit/index.htm[/link]

 

[Sonnny.L]

Coccydynia - simply means coccyx pain or pain in the coccyx area.

As said above -that doesn't neccesarily mean that the cause of the pain is actually from the coccyx, although it can be the case,it is also not uncommon for it to bereferred pain from a lumbar spine problem.

I haven't sully checked out the link to site given, but if it doesn't include that senario, then it is sadly lacking in quality of information.

Andrew.

 

[Google Help]

I've had the coccyx pain...hope it goes away for you soon. It was a very strickening pain indeed (I posted "can hematite overstimulate" [link=http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tt.asp?forumid=46]Crystals & Crystal Therapy[/link]thread). I too have not fallor any blow to that area. No childbirth. However I do have a back problem.

The only other thing I can think of right now...is that prior of getting up from bed the morning I first experienced the pain...Iwas laying for a while...maybe 20mins or soon my side proppedon my elbow.It began to be uncomfortable and hurt a bit to move out ofthe position.Its possible that sheer pressure from my spine dipping downward towards the bedand consequently twisting, pressuring the rest of my spine...could have done something to the coccyx.

On the other hand have you ever considered the nonphysical roots of the pain. It might sound weird but I've thought about what sub/unconscious meanings or other indirect causes my coccyx pain could have been related to. Ihave re-visited the meanings of the root chakra area/ coccyx/tailbone and thought about the correlations for me as well.

It just mostly stopped hurting one day.Suddenly I found that I became quite flexible again where I was not for months due to back/nerve pain. I still have some swelling ...not much...and every once in a while theres a little reminding twinge.

Another thought is that the coccyx might be taking up stress or simply part of perhaps some inflamation or stress of the muscles, facia, or tissues that have to do with the sacraland bottocks area.

Charish