Pain in the coccyx occurs regardless of the age or gender of the patient. And there are many reasons for the appearance of these symptoms. The occurrence of pain in the coccyx during sitting and standing can indicate both the presence of mechanical damage, such as a bruise, crack or fracture, and a number of diseases of the organs connected to the coccyx by nerve endings.
The nature of the pain can also be different: stitching, pulling, cutting, burning, giving in the groin, thigh or stomach. They can be amplified when moving, sitting or during certain manipulations.
The cause of pain is injury
The most common cause of pain is a tailbone injury resulting from a fall or impact. Possible consequences: crack, fracture, bruise or dislocation.
To determine the true cause, an osteopath doctor conducts a series of tests. A thorough examination is carried out in the lumbar spine of a person by feeling the rectum with palpation of the coccyx.
Additionally, the doctor will prescribe MRI, CT, X-ray studies. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography will reveal inflammatory processes and the presence of edema, and radiography - the presence of damage to the tailbone.
Treatment and prevention
If mechanical damage to the bones or joints of the coccyx is detected, the load on this spine is primarily limited. If necessary, correct the dislocation of the coccyx through the rectum or directly affect it through the skin.
Surgery is prescribed according to strict indications if it is impossible to act in other ways.
A bruise is also a tailbone injury. When diagnosing it, the patient is prescribed complete rest, no load on the site of the bruise. In the process, hematomas can occur and even a lump on the tailbone may form. It is also necessary to apply ointments of analgesic and cooling effects and stay in heat for the quickest resorption of hematomas.
Cyst
The tailbone cyst is usually a hereditary disease that occurs in young people under thirty years of age. Before the appearance of pain in the tailbone when sitting and standing up, the patient may not be aware of his illness. Trauma, hypothermia, complications after infectious diseases can provoke an exacerbation of the disease. The first signs are a bump on the tailbone, redness, pain. A cyst is a purulent formation that eventually begins to break through the skin (purulent fistula).
Diagnosis and treatment
For the diagnosis of cysts, sigmoidoscopy and sounding, as well as radiography of the sacral spine of a person, are used.
Coccyx surgery is the only possible cyst removal. Carried out after removal of inflammatory processes, under the influence of epidural anesthesia. After undergoing surgery to remove a cyst, the following recommendations should be strictly adhered to:
- After the operation, it is forbidden to take a sitting position for three weeks.
- Over the next month it is forbidden to lift weights.
- After removing the sutures, daily care for the crease between the buttocks and treatment of the suture with preparations with antibacterial action are necessary.
- For six months after the operation, it is necessary to do epilation of this zone.
- Before complete healing, you need to undergo regular medical examinations.
Pinched nerve
Another possible cause of pain in the tailbone when sitting and standing up may be pinching the sciatic nerve. Symptom is the sudden appearance of a sharp pain, usually concentrated in a particular place. They can give piercing “injections” to the thigh, leg, buttock, back. Numbness and tingling are sometimes possible.
Diagnosis and treatment of pinching of the sciatic nerve
This syndrome is diagnosed in the course of radiography, computed and magnetic resonance imaging. In this case, the causes of pain are determined. For example, this may be due to osteochondrosis, displacement of the vertebrae or the formation of a hernia of the intervertebral disc.
In some cases, the doctor prescribes a radioisotope scan of the spine. If a pinch of the sciatic nerve is detected, an examination by a neurologist is mandatory, which will determine the level of damage to the nervous system.
Treatment in such cases consists in the appointment of analgesics and treatment of the disease, as a result of which pain syndrome occurs.
Coccyalgia treatment
The occurrence of pain in the coccyx during sitting and standing may not be directly related to damage during trauma or a concomitant disease, since the coccyx is part of the spinal column and has many nerve branches. The causes may be problems in the work of internal organs. And then the treatment comes down to eliminating the diseases that result in coccyx inflammation.
The success of therapy depends on the correct diagnosis. It is worth starting with a complex of therapeutic measures that can correct the revealed violations. They are combined and combined with common proctologic diseases, inflammation of the genitourinary system or the occurrence of dysbiosis.
In the treatment of such diseases, physiotherapy, x-ray therapy, UHF therapy, the use of anti-inflammatory and pain medications are widely used. In the presence of spasm, a massage course is also prescribed with the simultaneous adoption of antispasmodics.
Sometimes the origin of pain can be psychological in nature: the presence of severe stress, prolonged depressive states. In a number of such cases, complex treatment is prescribed by a psychiatrist.
During pregnancy
Often there are pains of this nature during pregnancy or in those women who have recently given birth. The causes of such conditions may be a lack of calcium in the body, inflammatory processes in the lumbar region, increased stress on the human spine or a state of stress.
If the cause of pain in the tailbone is an overstrain or long sitting, a set of gymnastic exercises will help, which will remove the load from the lumbar. Good remedies are also a massage course, dry heat, anesthetizing ointments, taking antispasmodics or analgesics.
Coccyx Removal
Such an operation is prescribed in especially severe conditions, such as chronic, persistent pain or cancer. Removal of the tailbone will take place under general anesthesia. After surgery, the patient may experience severe pain. The healing process will last several months, since the spine of a person is restored for a long time after the injuries received. Before an operation of such complexity, the patient undergoes a complete and thorough examination of the entire body to confirm readiness for surgery.
In chronic pain, coccyx removal will be the last treatment option. They resort to it only in the most difficult conditions, when no other means have a positive effect.
The operation itself takes about one hour. After the patient regains consciousness, painkillers are administered to him , which are used throughout the rehabilitation period. At first time after the operation, the patient can’t take a sitting position, therefore, support pillows are used to help settle down most comfortably and relieve pain. When the initial phase of the healing process has passed, the pain subsides, and the patient can already sit, begins to walk. People who decide on such a procedure should tune in to the long recovery process and certain limitations in their subsequent lives.