Coccyx Pain. When you’ve quite literally got a pain in the butt.
Coccyx pain is as it says, pain that is felt in the coccyx.
It can start after an acute injury such as a fall and childbirth, or gradually build up over time in cases such as pregnancy, sitting for long periods from overactive pelvic floor muscles.
What is the relationship between the tailbone and the pelvic floor?
This is a birds eye view of the pelvis, with the pubic bone at the front and the tailbone (coccyx) at the back.
You can see that the pelvic floor, starts at the front of the pelvis, wraps around the behind where the back passage would pass through, and then attaches onto the other side.
You can also see how some of the muscle fibres attach into the coccyx.
So if these muscles are resting with increased tension it can pull on the coccyx and start to cause pain and discomfort.
How can physio help tailbone pain?
Pain Management Strategies: these are short term strategies in your tool kit that can alleviate pain when it starts to come on such as heat or cool packs.
Proper sitting biomechanics: When you’re sitting slouched through the lower back, this places a LOT of pressure onto your coccyx. Equally, you don’t want to be holding yourself upright, because constantly activing your back and glute muscles and cause your pelvic floor muscles to always be on and pull on the coccyx even more. Your physio can go through sitting strategies with you to take pressure off your coccyx.
Stretches: We can prescribe stretches that are designed to help stretch the muscles of the pelvis
Soft tissue therapy: Pelvic floor physio’s can complete internal pelvic floor massage to help relax the pelvic floor, as well as external massage through the abdomen, glutes and back to help take pressure off the coccyx.
Body Scan Meditations: One of the biggest drivers of this type of pain is whether you are constantly holding your pelvic floor on throughout the day. Body scan techniques allow you to tune into your body and let go of any excess tension.
Breathing assessment: There is a strong relationship between your diaphragm and pelvic floor. When you breathe deep into the diaphragm your pelvic floor naturally stretches. If you are someone who breathes high into the chest and doesn’t take deep breaths, it is likely you aren’t stretching or relaxing your pelvic floor well. In our physio sessions we can assess your breathing to try and encourage a pelvic floor relaxation.
If you’ve been dealing with coccyx pain that doesn’t seem to be improving with traditional treatment. Pelvic floor physio’s are trained to help relax the pelvic floor muscles to help take pressure of the coccyx. At Kin Physio in Geelong we assess and treat coccyx pain through both internal and external assessment. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out info@kinphysio.com.au
