COCCYX PILLOW

ANATOMY OF THE COCCYX

The coccyx pillow takes the pressure off a bruised coccyx or a fractured coccyx in the acute phase after injury. Coccydynia is one of the most debilitating conditions. If not managed correctly it leaves the victim unable to sit for months and even years.

Where exactly is the coccyx? Slide your finger down between the buttock crease and eventually, deep, just before you reach the anus, you will feel a hard bony prominence. That's it! A normal coccyx is not at all tender.

The coccyx lies at the end of the vertebral column, consisting usually of four bones lying below the sacrum. It’s incorrectly been considered a ‘vestigial tail’ that has no real function in the human, which is far from the case.

So what are the causes of coccygeal pain and why is a coccyx pillow so useful? About the only time the coccyx seems to give trouble is after direct trauma, and sometimes after child birth. And then it certainly let’s you know of its presence! It hurts, and prevents us doing what first comes to hand, namely sitting. When a person can’t sit, they are supremely miserable!

The coccyx is only rarely fractured as it is fairly mobile, able to flex forwards and backwards. But a violent force directly to the coccyx (like falling down the stairs), may subluxate the coccyx and sprain its ligaments, and cause pain for months and even years.

Tip: Make sure your child knows that pulling a chair out from under someone about to sit, is a very mean trick to pull. I have patients who have suffered from coccyx and low back pain for the rest of the lives. Intended as a joke, it has caused a lifetime of misery. Mind you, knowing some kids, perhaps you will be putting ideas into their heads. Some people's children! Not yours, of course.

Owing to its attachment to so many muscles, the coccyx, when injured, can have a detrimental effect on movement, sitting, bearing down on the toilet may be painful and urinating may also be affected. Some women may even experience pain during sexual intercourse. The coccyx is not without some importance!

COCCYX FRACTURE

Whilst this is a worse case than one would normally see on an average day at the Chiropractic Coalface, three separate injuries, all impacting on each other, it was gratifying this morning, six weeks after the fall, to examine her and find that she has almost no pain or disability. She is faithfully doing her LOWER BACK EXERCISES and is more than happy, no longer needing the coccyx pillow, though her coccyx is still tender on palpation.

Now we have made a start with chronic severe migraines obviously eminating from TMJ anatomy ... the jaw joint is a major cause of facial pain and severe headaches. Often there is also upper cervical pain since the sensory nucleus of the nerve supplying the jaw joint (the Trigeminal nerve) is found in the neck. Often it is a chicken-and-egg situation. Does the TMJ anatomy cause the Atlanto Occipital joint subluxation, or vice versa. In her case it's clearly the former - she grinds her teeth at night (bruxism), a major cause of migraine headache migraine headache ...

TREATMENT

The first phase of chiropractic care is no different to any other acute joint injury. It needs to be iced to reduce any swelling and inflammation, the subluxations should be reduced as soon as possible, and you need to avoid sitting directly on it for a few weeks. Fortunately there are several aids in the form of a coccyx pillow that take direct pressure off the offended dignity of this little group of bones.

The bruised coccyx (and a fracture coccyx of course) causes " coccydynia ". Sitting in the car is often painful, but this little coccyx pillow does wonders.

Really this injury should be considered as a syndrome, as trauma to the coccyx often affects the sacrum, the sacro-iliac joints and the myriad of muscles around the coccyx. And of course, the trauma may well have affected the spinal joints as well.

Fortunately, the skin is very tight around the coccyx, and can be used in most cases to correct the subluxated coccyx. The treatment is not usually particularly painful, despite the fact that the general area is so sore - as your chiropractor uses the skin away from the joint to correct the subluxation.

Occasionally, it has to be done rectally. This also is not painful, but obviously awkward and embarrassing. I have never seen research, but on the odd occasion when I have had to do an internal rectal correction of the coccyx, I have been of the opinion that it can be corrected even more quickly. This is perhaps because at the same moment one can do cross-friction of the adjacent ligaments and muscles. Thereafter a coccyx pillow is usually a good idea for a few weeks.

Suggestion: If you are male, and over 45, ask your chiropractor to check your prostate at the same time. It's right there. Prostate cancer is the most common serious cancer in men ... and, talking of prostates, it's obligatory that every man eats a tomato a day. Why? TOMATO PROSTATE ...

For an interesting case history from the Chiropractic Coalface, click here: CHIROPRACTIC COALFACE ...



Before surgery, don't you think it might be an idea to pay your local chiropractor a visit? Reducing the subluxation together with a coccyx pillow is far less misery.

The black arrow below points to the coccyx. Or, what remains of it.

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