<p>A couple days ago, son fell at the beach (skimboarding) on his tailbone. He’s walking and all, but says it’s sore. He took some Aleve. How long does this type of injury take to go away? I think it’s more annoying and bothersome than anything else. He doesn’t complain about sitting on it, only when he steps on his left (?) leg, it is sore.</p>
<p>There’s really nothing you can do about it other than wait, is there?</p>
<p>Oldest D’s head broke my tailbone when she was being born (yea, I know… ouch!). Thankfully I had an epidural and didn’t know until after it wore off.</p>
<p>That being said, when the epidural did wear off, and because I had no experience yet with childbirth, I thought the pain I was experiencing was ‘typical’ for post childbirth. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later, when I called to ask for a refill of my pain killer because I still couldn’t sit without pain that I was asked to come in for a recheck. With an exam, and pressing on the right area, they were able to determine it was my tailbone, and everything else was healing properly. No x-ray needed. </p>
<p>With a broken tailbone, it was literally months before I was pain free. Probably a year or more that I could still feel tenderness. Hopefully with just a bruise, it’ll be just a few weeks for your son. Standing was actually the only pain-free position I could be in.</p>
<p>P.S. The good news was that 2 1/2 years later, her sister, who weighed a 1 1/2 pounds more, did not rebreak it while being born! Not that this matters to your son.</p>
<p>My mom broke her tailbone about 8-9 years ago. She didn’t even know it until she was getting a bone density scan and they asked her had she fell recently (in the last couple of years or so) and she said yes (she had taken a nasty tumble in the bathroom or kitchen, can’t remember exactly) and they told her she had broken her tailbone. Go figure. Unfortunately, she wasn’t a young boy at the time of her fall, so she still has some lingering pain even today. But, it may just be normal back pain, who knows. But she was sore for months afterwards of the initial fall, and I know it was painful to lift things bending over and general walking.<br>
So, yes he may have broken his wittle tailbone. But, there’s not much you can do, since you can’t exactly cast your butt. My suggestion is that if the pain continues for another week or so, take him in to either a family physician or an orthopedic. They can do an x-ray to confirm it, or they might diagnose him without one, and then give you tips to help ease the pain (heating pad at night, lumbar support in bed/chair, etc).</p>
<p>PS- don’t let him take an excessive amount of Aleve, Motrin, Advil, Tylanol, etc. It can lead to kidney/liver damage and Motrin-type products thin your blood, which could pose a serious risk as well. If he needs medication continuously for a couple of days, don’t wait a week…take him in then.</p>
<p>I had a broken tail bone a number of years ago. There is nothing the Dr.'s do except give you pain meds/muscle relaxers and recommended I get a donut to sit on at a surgical supply store. Other than that, it healed on it’s own but it took quite a while.</p>
<p>While it’s possible he may have broken his coccyx (tailbone), the fact that it doesn’t bother him when he sits AND does bother him when he steps on his left leg suggests that it might be something else entirely. If it were my kid, I’d take him to the doctor now rather than later.</p>
<p>I vote with dmd77. If the injury is of a slightly different type than you think it is, the recommendations for how best to cope with it might also differ. He’s likely to heal quicker if he gets the right instructions now. </p>
<p>I suggest calling his primary care physician and seeing whether this is the sort of thing tht they can deal with in their office, or whether an immediate referral to an orthopedic surgeon would be more efficient. No point in spending any more time in doctors’ waiting rooms than necessary.</p>
<p>I agree it could be a broken coccyx: been there, done that, twice years ago. First time was falling off of a horse as a kid. Second time was in college; and well, it shouldn’t have happened, that’s all I can say. Very painful, it took about 6 months total recoup time for both.</p>
<p>He has different symptoms than a tailbone injury. I sat abruptly a few too many times while skiing last winter, on an icy day. Quite the long lasting pain, but right in the tailbone area, and while sitting only. </p>
<p>If this isn’t improving with ice and anti inflammatories-ibuprofen, naproxyn after a few days, take him in. Ice is usually the recommendation for injuries of that nature.</p>
<p>If the pain is radiating away from his spine, he may have some inflamation around his spine. ICE. He may have bulged a disk slightly and it needs time to slide back in. Ice and asprin and taking it a bit easy for a while.</p>
<p>I think a doctor is in order. My niece broke her tailbone last year and the doctor was worried about nerve damage. You definitely want to rule that out.</p>
<p>Today he says, “he feels like it’s getting better.”
Right now he’s out skateboarding! :eek:</p>
<p>If he’s out skateboarding, he didn’t break his tailbone. This early on, it would be too painful to allow him to do that.</p>
<p>me too- my tailbone isn’t “normal” it is more curved, so imagine childbirth, it REAALLLLYY hurt, but it wasn’t broken, but I carried a inflatable donut for awhile</p>