Can the tailbone hurt? It turns out yes! Moreover, quite a lot of people complain about the discomfort in this area. Nevertheless, not all of them go to see a doctor. The main reason for this is the subtlety and intimacy of the problem. But it is worthwhile to understand that pains in the coccyx area are the cause of not only uncomfortable sensations. They lead to a partial or complete loss of operability of the musculoskeletal system, which significantly reduces the quality of human life. The danger of this pathology lies in the fact that with violations that occur in the tailbone, neighboring systems and organs suffer. At the same time, the act of defecation and urination is difficult, and there are also problems with sleep. As a result of the weakening of blood supply in the coccyx, a favorable environment is created for the development of infections, prolonged exposure of which can lead to the formation of fistulas.
According to medical statistics, most often women suffer from pain in this area of the spine. The reason for this is the structural features of their skeleton in the area of the location of the pelvis, as well as the presence of reproductive organs. It is also known that those people whose age is in the range of 35-55 years fall into the high-risk group. It is they who most often experience similar pains.
Anatomical structure
What is the tailbone? It represents the lowest of all parts of the spine. Fused underdeveloped vertebrae took part in his education. In the ancestors of man, they were the support of the tail. Today, the tailbone is an unnecessary rudimentary organ.
In its anatomical position, this is the final portion of the spinal column, having the shape of an inverted triangle. It is a bone, consisting of three to five vertebrae, which throughout the entire period of human evolution have grown together.
The coccyx is connected to the sacrum by the sacrococcygeal joint. Thanks to this, the human rudimentary organ is able to deviate a little. A similar process occurs during childbirth. By deflecting the tailbone, the woman’s body helps the process of procreation.
Around this organ is a lot of nerve fibers. This is what causes pain in a person after a certain time after the occurrence of a factor provoking them. Especially often this happens after injuries, when bone fragments have not grown together correctly.
A large number of muscles and ligaments are attached to the anterior coccyx. They take an active part in the functioning of the genitourinary system and intestines. That is why the causes of pain in the coccyx sometimes become a variety of pathological processes that occur in these organs.
Symptoms of ailment
How can a person determine the source from which the pain comes? Indeed, discomfort is sometimes felt not only in the area of the coccyx. Pain may cover the back, lower back, and lower abdomen. Their manifestation is also different. A person may complain of sharp, stitching or aching pain.
One way or another, the cause of the pathology should be diagnosed and eliminated in time. Otherwise, the body will be subject to serious disorders, due to which the pain will turn into its chronic form and will not allow you to walk and sit normally.
Among the symptoms of pathology that arose in the tailbone, there are:
- increased pain with pressure on the lumbar region;
- the occurrence of discomfort with constipation and the weakening of discomfort after an act of defecation;
- increased pain during prolonged sitting on a very hard surface, sometimes extending to the buttocks and perineum.
What can cause a tailbone? There may be several reasons for this. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Injury
What can cause a tailbone? The first and most common cause is injury resulting in displacement, bruising, fracture, cracking or dislocation. It always happens unexpectedly. Most often, the causes of pain in the coccyx are an unsuccessful fall or blow received in the buttocks. At times, riding lovers and cyclists feel discomfort in this very lower area of the spine. The reason is their getting microtrauma. Why does the tailbone hurt women who have had a difficult birth? The reason is the same injury that was received at the time the baby was born. Pain in this case occurs in women at the moment when they are sitting.
What is the nature of the discomfort during injury? Pain in a person in this situation arises quite strong, sharp and sharp. Sometimes they are paroxysmal, and sometimes permanent. In the sitting position and when walking, pain caused by injury to the tailbone will certainly increase. But their localization is different. Both the tailbone and the area near it, located on the side, lower or higher, can hurt.
As a rule, such uncomfortable sensations appear in a person immediately after a fall or bruise. But sometimes they have a slight severity and pass quite quickly. However, sometimes more than one year passes, and a person who has already forgotten about the fall, suddenly comes burning and severe pain. This makes itself felt unhealed tailbone injury.
Consider the mechanism of various types of damage and their symptoms. What can the tailbone hurt from injury?
- Injury. In this type of injury, closed tissue tissue damage occurs. It is accompanied by edema, bruising. Most often, bruises occur in children as a result of a fall and in adults who are fond of active sports. The main symptom of such an injury is pain. Its intensity directly depends on the strength of the impact. The victim experiences uncomfortable feelings when trying to lie down or sit down. As a result of a bruise, a bruise or swelling often forms in the coccyx.
- Dislocation. With this injury, the articular surfaces of the coccyx are displaced, changing position relative to each other. Dislocation is possible with a strong blow or fall. An example of this is incorrect landing during a parachute jump. The victim complains of sharp pain. He has swelling of the tissues. There is a difficulty in the act of defecation. Pain during a dislocation accompanies a person's attempts to lie down or sit down.
- Fracture. What can cause a tailbone? Significant discomfort brings a violation of the integrity of the bone organ. A fracture can occur when falling and hitting. The main symptoms in this case are swelling and pain, redness in the coccyx area or the appearance of a bluish tint, as well as the occurrence of a crunch when pressure is applied to tissues in this area.
Hernia
A similar pathological condition is also one of the causes of severe pain in the tailbone. A hernia of this organ may result from excessive stress. For example, after injuries or childbirth. They provoke a rupture of the shell of the disk, which is located between the vertebrae of honey, which in the normal state performs the function of a shock absorber during various human movements. With such a tear, the jelly-like contents of the disc are protruded into the spinal canal. Thus, a hernia occurs.
Such a pathology is sometimes completely asymptomatic. For quite a long time, a person does not feel any discomfort in this zone. However, the progression of the disease leads to irritation of the nerve roots, which are located in the coccyx and perineum. This causes a feeling of pain. In addition, the inflammatory process begins in the body. It irritates the bladder and affects the rectum, which leads to disruption of urination and bowel movements.
Cyst
Sometimes in the human body there is an epithelial coccygeal passage. This is nothing more than a defect in the development of the skin caused by incomplete reduction of those muscles that, in the ancestors of humans, were part of the tail. Such a course develops in the fetus during its intrauterine development and is nothing more than a thin tube of the epithelium located on the line of the intergluteal fold and not connected in any way with the sacrum and coccyx. Initially, it does not manifest itself. However, upon injury or violation of personal hygiene rules, the skin openings in this area become clogged, and an inflammatory process occurs in the area of the epithelial tube. The walls of the course collapse, an abscess forms. In this case, the following symptoms are observed:
- swelling and redness in the coccyx;
- pains in the lower back, which are much worse during an attempt to sit down;
- increase in general and local temperature;
- the release of pus with independent opening of the abscess and the formation of a secondary opening of the cyst.
Judging by the medical statistics, such a disease is most often observed in men.
Osteochondrosis
With this pathology of the spine, degenerative changes in cartilage and intervertebral discs also occur. They, like with a hernia of the coccyx, cause pain in this area. With osteochondrosis, the following symptoms are observed:
- pain in the coccyx;
- discomfort in the legs and organs located in the pelvis;
- sleep disturbance and gait.
Tumors of the pelvic bones
Osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma can be causes of pain in the tailbone. These pathologies represent the growth of malignant cells, which in the first case begins in the bone tissue, and in the second - in the cartilage. The danger of the first disease lies in the fact that the tumor significantly weakens the bone, leading to pathological fractures. Chondrosarcoma, which negatively affects cartilage, also poses a no less threat to health. In most cases, these ailments cause damage to the pelvic bones, as well as lower and upper limbs. With the development of these pathologies, the patient has symptoms such as:
- pain in the sacrum, thigh and tailbone;
- impaired gait in the form of lameness;
- interruptions in sleep;
- a slight increase in body temperature.
Perineal prolapse
Among the causes of pain in the coccyx in women is a decrease in the ability to hold the pelvic organs. This pathology is caused by weakening of the muscles of the perineum. This syndrome leads to the occurrence of pathological changes such as the prolapse of the walls of the uterus and vagina, as well as the rectum and bladder.
Why does the tailbone hurt in women? The development of such a pathology as prolapse of the perineum is observed when it ruptures due to an injury. Most often this happens during childbirth. The constant constipation that occurs in older women can also provoke a similar ailment if the rupture of the perineum, which occurred in the past, was not well sewn. In this case, the following symptoms are observed:
- incontinence of feces, gases and urine;
- discomfort caused by sexual intercourse;
- tailbone pain;
- discomfort during bowel movements.
Sciatica
Why does the tailbone hurt when sitting or lying down? The cause of this may be inflammation of the sciatic nerve. It is the longest in the human body. The sciatic nerve is a trunk formed by nerve fibers emerging from the intervertebral foramen located along the entire length of the spine and interconnected in the lumbosacral region.
The sciatic nerve begins near the 4-5 vertebrae, passes near the coccyx, and then goes down, located on the back surface of the lower extremities. The development of pathology occurs with injuries, excessive physical exertion or a sedentary lifestyle. As a result of the negative impact of these factors, the sciatic nerve undergoes inflammation or pinching, which leads to the appearance of a pathology called sciatica. In this case, the following symptoms are observed:
- pain in the limbs and tailbone;
- the occurrence of discomfort during physical exertion, sneezing and coughing;
- sleep disturbance due to night pain;
- uncomfortable sensations when lying or sitting;
- gait change.
Spondylitis
Why does the tailbone hurt? After bacteria enter the human body, they, together with a blood stream, can enter the vertebrae, provoking putrefactive processes in them. Such pathological changes cause complete death of bone tissue. Such an ailment is called necrosis. It is an inflammatory disease that affects the vertebral bodies and leads to their deformation.
Spondylitis is tuberculosis, syphilis and gonorrhea, as well as caused by streptococci, staphylococci and other pathogenic bacteria.
In the initial stages of the disease, the symptoms of pathology are rather mild. And only a little later there are pains in the affected area, the posture is disturbed, stiffness in movements appears. In addition, an increase in body temperature occurs, the patient becomes irritable and suffers from insomnia.
Consider the causes of uncomfortable sensations in the coccyx based on the places of their localization.
Lumbosacral pain
Uncomfortable sensations arise in this area with the development of spinal cysts or osteochondrosis in it. At the same time, the patient complains that the pain that appears in the back gives back to the coccyx. A similar clinical picture is also characteristic of pinching the sciatic nerve. The above pathologies are the main causes of pain in the lower back and tailbone. Similar discomfort can occur with hemorrhoids, as well as ailments of the rectum.
Lifting discomfort
Why does the tailbone hurt when you get up? Such sensations never appear due to injury to this organ. The causes of coccyx pain when standing up are, as a rule, postoperative scars in the perineum. They can also be adhesions that formed after surgery in the pelvic cavity.
Why does the tailbone hurt in women when you get up? The cause of this condition sometimes becomes a deviation of the perineum from a normal position. There are such sensations during pregnancy.
Tilt discomfort
Such pains are observed, as a rule, due to the presence of chronic inflammatory processes in those organs that are located in the immediate vicinity of the coccyx. This, for example, the uterus and its appendages, the bladder and intestines.
With slopes of the tailbone pain can occur with various diseases. Among them - colitis and dysbiosis, cystitis and sigmoiditis, endometritis, adnexitis and others.
If the pain gives back to the tailbone
As mentioned above, such discomfort occurs in the presence of spinal cysts and osteochondrosis, with rectal ailments and hemorrhoids, inflammatory processes in the hip joints, etc. Causes unpleasant sensations and scars left after the operation.
Pain in a seated person
Many people complain of such discomfort. What are the causes of coccyx pain when sitting? Their occurrence contributes to the habit of sitting on upholstered furniture. Why does the tailbone hurt when you relax? In this case, the position of the rudimentary organ in a person becomes incorrect. The vessels that supply it with blood are clogged, and stagnation occurs in them. Why does the tailbone hurt when you relax for a long time sitting on upholstered furniture? Stagnation in the vessels causes the deposition of salts in the vertebrae, which are part of the coccyx, and the appearance of uncomfortable sensations in it.
Why does the tailbone hurt when sitting in women and in men who engage in cycling or horse riding? The cause of discomfort in this case lies in the receipt of microtraumas of this organ, as mentioned above.
Why does the coccyx in women hurt when sitting? This is facilitated by the deformation of this organ during childbirth, when the intervertebral joints underwent excessive extension.
And another cause of pain in the coccyx that worries a seated person is a coccyx cyst. This pathology has been described above.
Consider the cause of tailbone pain based on their nature.
Pulling and aching
The causes of pain in the coccyx in women are inflammatory processes that occur in the fallopian tubes and ovaries. In this case, patients complain, as a rule, of aching discomfort.
The causes of coccyx pain in men are prostatitis and prostate adenoma. Discomfort with these pathologies is also aching.
With pulling pain in the coccyx, we can talk about the presence of osteochondrosis, which affected the lumbar and sacral spine. Sometimes discomfort of the same type occurs with hemorrhoids, as well as with frequent constipation, as a result of which a person has to sit on the toilet for a long time.
Coccyx pain
Such a localization of discomfort is characteristic for the omission of the perineum and pathologies of the rectum. It also arises as a result of the presence of scars that remained after the operation in the anus.
Pain under the coccyx often occurs after an injury. Moreover, in this case it is necessary to consider the one that occurred several years ago, and as a result of which a bruise, fracture or dislocation of this organ was received.
Pain above the tailbone
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After the baby is born, discomfort in the coccyx indicates a birth injury. Most likely, such pains are provoked by hemorrhage in the soft tissues located near this organ. Their cause sometimes becomes its excessive extension, which is likely with a large fruit.
Pain in men
Representatives of a strong half of humanity also suffer from discomfort in this area. A specific cause of coccyx pain in men is the so-called jeep affliction. It occurs during frequent trips in vehicles without springs.
These are caterpillar tractors, tanks and armored personnel carriers. During such trips, the coccyx receives excessive load. This becomes the cause of the development of a cyst of this organ.
Treatment
To get rid of uncomfortable sensations in the coccyx, it is necessary to establish the cause of the pathology. When you first contact a specialist, a person should first go to a proctologist. This doctor, if necessary, will send his patient or patient to a neurologist, gynecologist, osteopath or surgeon. Sometimes a consultation with a psychotherapist is required. After establishing the cause of coccyx pain, treatment of this pathology can be carried out with maximum efficiency.
In most cases, doctors recommend conservative methods to their patients that do not involve surgical intervention. Comprehensive treatment of tailbone pathologies involves providing patients with rest. The period of observance of bed rest will depend on the causes of the illness. So, if the lower spine was injured, then a person will need to rest for at least seven days. For indirect causes of pain that are not directly related to the tailbone, you will need to be in bed for several days, until the spasm is somewhat relieved. With bone fractures, rest is extended up to 10 days. Therapy in this case should last for a month, during which the patient is forbidden even small physical exertion.
At the same time as bed rest, the doctor prescribes pain medication. After this, it is possible to use massage, restoring impaired blood circulation, manual therapy, physiotherapy, as well as physical therapy exercises. All concomitant pathologies identified during diagnosis are also subject to treatment.
In order to eliminate or weaken negative emotions after a visit to a psychotherapist, a patient may be prescribed psychotropic drugs. Doctors do not provide assistance only in cases when pregnant women complain of pain in the tailbone, because painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs are contraindicated. Radiological diagnosis is also excluded. That is why women who are preparing to become mothers have to put up with these uncomfortable sensations, placing a soft pillow or a donut-shaped rubber rubber ring under their backs, which can be purchased at a pharmacy. By the way, sitting on such a device is recommended not only for pregnant women. A rubber wheel will be a good way to eliminate pain for all patients. This fairly simple device eliminates pressure and stress on the coccyx during sitting, which will eliminate discomfort in this area.
To eliminate moderate pain in the tailbone, doctors prescribe anti-inflammatory non-steroid drugs to their patients. Such drugs are introduced into the body in the form of microclysters or suppositories. However, in the case of severe pain, these funds are not used because of their low effectiveness. To eliminate significant discomfort, doctors prescribe novocaine blockade of a painful place.
Manual techniques, massage, and acupuncture will help ease the patient's condition. All these procedures should be carried out only by a specialist.
Using manual therapy can improve blood circulation in the painful area, eliminate stagnation in blood vessels, relieve muscle spasm and restore fullness of movement.
Acupuncture also helps to reduce the intensity of coccyx pain. With the right choice of active points, uncomfortable sensations are completely eliminated.
Pain in the tailbone and reduce the methods of physiotherapy. Among them - exposure to ultrasound, laser therapy, electrotherapy, UHF, darsonval, diadynamic currents, ozokerite, therapeutic mud and applications with paraffin.
With pain in the tailbone, a person is not only possible, but also just needs to do physical education. However, in these cases, when performing exercises, there should not be straining, sudden jerking movements, fast walking and jumping.
With dislocations and fractures of the coccyx that are not amenable to therapeutic treatment, surgery is performed. It consists in the removal of the coccyx or in bringing it back to normal.
With the help of surgical intervention, the cyst that occurs on this organ is also treated. With its exacerbation, doctors make an incision and remove pus. When the fistula is formed, another operation is provided. It consists in removing the cyst directly.
Prevention
How to protect yourself from tailbone pain? To do this, you need to follow completely simple rules. They are enclosed in:
- minimizing strong physical exertion;
- performing exercises to strengthen the muscles of the spine;
- Creating a menu using a balanced diet;
- the use of a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals, among which must necessarily be calcium, magnesium and phosphorus;
- elimination of situations in which hypothermia of the body may occur;
- timely treatment of pathologies of the spine;
- maintaining an active lifestyle;
- systematic visits to a neurologist, osteopath, gynecologist and proctologist;
- regular courses of massage and physiotherapy.
Coccyx pains, which are quite unpleasant and cause severe discomfort, need to be addressed in a timely manner. This will eliminate them and regain health.