Tuesday, August 16, 2011

3 years post injury, continuing chronic coccyx pain?

The doctor you'd need to see is an orthopedic specialist or surgeon. There are non-surgical treatments you could try, and which any decent doctor would suggest you tried first. In fact, removal of the coccyx would be the absolute last thing they would suggest, and that only after everything else failed and you were in pretty much chronic pain. The first thing they would suggest is probably the most obvious- which is that you avoid sitting in positions that cause the pain, avoid sitting on hard surfaces, and consider sitting on cushions or a donut to provide padding for the tailbone, and use pain relievers to control the pain when you can't do the above things, or they don't work. You could consult an orthopedic doctor regardless though, to see if the way it healed is the reason for the pain. It's possible that it has entrapped a nerve, and that it could be repaired. I would not recommend surgery as a first course, nor would any decent orthopedic surgeon either. While it might end the pain, it might very well not do it at all and could also leave you in more pain, more often. You can have complications later on, like the collapse of your pelvic floor, which would leave you in pretty bad shape as well. There are things that can help you short of removal of your tailbone, and you really just need to see the orthopedist to see what the condition of things are, and discuss the options available to you. I've only seen one coccyx removal though, and that was to remove a tumor. So I don't think surgery is something you'd really want to do just yet. But see an orthopedist, and you should get some useful help.

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