I fell down a few steps almost 2 weeks ago, landed on my rear, pain in butt gone in 2-3 days, but the soreness in tailbone lingers on. No bruises on the area.
I went to the primary doctor for hacking cough 2 days ago, told her about the tailbone, she said to sit on soft cushion or donut cushion, take Advil 3 times a day, nothing much else can be done, time will heal it. I asked her about exercise class (only at senior center, strength training and yoga), she said NO until soreness is gone…
It is only dull ache but it is there, don’t know how long it will take for it to go away, try not to aggravate it further at the mean time.
Anyone with similar experience and how long did it take to fully recover? Thanks.
Yup, this happened to me (I landed on the hard heel of my shoe) and it took a few months. It’s not a part of the body that is crucial to the rest of your functioning (except the ache.) The ache may be the nerve ‘surprise’ of the fall.
I had a spectacular crash last year while luging, and my tailbone (and ribs) hurt for weeks. The doctor suggested prednisone to reduce any internal swelling, but I hate the stuff so declined.
I’ve had coccyx pain for several months; it’s worse when I stand up from sitting even though I use a cushion. Finally, my doctor sent me for x-rays since I’ve had pain from bone spurs and stress fractures before and was in a crash last year.
The doctor’s recommendation is now physical therapy. I hope that also helps with the sciatica pain, which started about the same time. Fairly slow walking on a treadmill seems to help some.
One thing that’s helped with lower back pain and sciatica has been a small TENS unit. I crank it up pretty high and wear it for about 45 mins. to an hour before bed.
Mine fractured when I was pregnant; it’s been on & off painful ever since. About a year ago, I fell down the stairs backwards (don’t ask!); I landed right on my tailbone. The pain and discomfort took months to finally feel ‘mild discomfort’ I empathize with you!
This happened to me twice. Once it took a year, and the second time several months. Chiropractic can help with this. I straight out told the chiro I don’t want an internal adjustment (there is such a thing) but please don’t be afraid to adjust me there. The adjustment is sort of getting in the tailbone area and pushing up. It helps straighten it out. You will need to go back several times. It works. Good luck.
Tailbone pain is awful. Many years ago, I broke mine and went to a doctor and had an x-ray, then the doc told me if I lost weight it would get better. She didn’t even believe me when I described how I’d hurt it. I ended up seeing three different doctors before one finally looked closely at my x-ray and circled a spot and said “It’s clearly broken and displaced right here.”
I bought the pad with the tailbone cutout and sat on that for a year - everywhere. The couch, the car, etc. When I sat on the couch, I would lay on my side, off-center to not aggravate it. After a year, and ever since, it still will get aggravated if I have to sit on a hard surface for very long. I wouldn’t do any exercises that require sitting or could put pressure on that spot. I don’t see why walking would hurt it though.
Thanks for everyone’s response. I missed the 3rd step and fell backwards, clumsy me. It is not sharp or intense pain, but dull and achy and it is there. It is not even as painful as my L4L5 bulging disc pain but has improved over the last couple of years.
I have had acupuncture for a few months for my back pain, and now I will be treated for the tailbone too.
I can’t stand sitting on the donut thing, soft cushion is good enough, as @Silpat mentioned, standing up after sitting seems to cause more noticeable pain, and also getting in and out of the car. I try to limit my sitting, and do some mild stretching during the day.
Doctor did say walking is ok. Too cold walking outside. Maybe I watch some Youtube video for some slow walking exercise.
I fell on my hardwood floor a few months ago (missed the couch - don’t ask) The pain wasn’t getting any better after about a week, I went to my doctor and he ordered an X-ray. I had a fracture at bottom of pelvic bone.For pain he told me Advil, etc, but also told me not to play tennis since the bone wasn’t displaced - which is a good thing - but if I fell again it would be not so good. I did go to my yoga class but couldn’t do everything as it hurt too much. Took about 4 weeks to be pain free.
I plunked off the tailgate of a truck, right onto bum/tailbone. This was a few years ago. It did take over a year to completely resolve. I’m finding that with age some pains that are not due to a clear break/francture of other problem often take a long time to resolve.
Sorry OP this happened. Try ice, try heat, sometime shoe insoles help if you have any walking misalignment. There were time’s tI’d take two aspirin a day for a week at a time. It took down the inflammation.
I hit mine using a water slide that was ‘too fast’ and hit the foam pad but bounced onto the concrete bottom of the pool (they closed the ride just after that because 3-4 other adults were also hurt).
It took years to heal and before I could sit on a hard chair like a church pew. And I have PLENTY of padding in that area.