Help and Advice for Broken Tailbone

Updated on July 07, 2009
J.H. asks from Romulus, MI
15 answers

Hello. I need your help. I was standing and fell from my very high bed onto my butt. I was in pain immediately and realized I damaged my tailbone. Three days later I can barely sit without extreme pain, I have shooting pains, I thought it would get better (I thought it would be like a bruise or pulled muscle) I've never had this before and noone in my family has either. I need your help, please. How long will it last? Any persons with experience with a fall on tailbone? Any advice? I hate taking pain pills, but have had to. but would like to know approx. how long the severe pain lasts. Thank you.

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So What Happened?

Thank you to everyone for your help. I did go into my doctor, she sent me for x-rays. I bent my tailbone. She said one week without doing anything but taking anti-inflamatories. If in a week I don't have relief, she will send me to physical therapy. She said they can do a very painful procedure of straightening it (through the rectum) UGH! A doctor saying very painful, didn't make me want to try it at all. She said it doesn't always work either. So with all of your advice and a few friends, I bought a donut to sit on and am gonna take it easy for a few days and take pills until I feel some relief from the pain. Thank you again.

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T.K.

answers from Detroit on

I fell this past December while 13 weeks pregnant down the stairs and cracked my tailbone too!! 3 months of misery to expect. If you have a chiropractor that will help as I also damaged my whole pelvic area too!! Hang in there and take it slow!!
T. K.

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E.M.

answers from Detroit on

th ehomeopathic remedy Hypericum or Saint John's Wort is indicated for injuries to the tailbone. YOu could start with 30 potency. I also recommend a visit to a knowledgebale osteopath that really does adjustments and can check for breakage

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J.O.

answers from Grand Rapids on

Sorry to hear about your injury and unfortunately many times there is not much you can do for a fractured tailbone, it is not like you can put a cast on it! While it heals you may want to try sitting on a donut like the ones for people with hemorrhoids to take some of the pressure off from the tailbone, you can try ice and an anti-inflammatory type of medication like Motrin or Tylenol or if you see your doctor they may prescribe something stronger. I am not a big fan of pain pills for this situation as there is probably swelling and inflammation there. I am not a doctor, just a physical therapist but you may want to see your doctor to see if a PT could help manage the symptoms until it heals and to ensure that things are healing properly.

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S.C.

answers from Detroit on

Hi J.,

I totally feel for ya! Out of a fit of rage I pushed a totalled car probably 50 feet by myself and mine snapped. Here I am 8 years later and I still regularly have difficulty with the pain. I"m not on pain killers all the time but i do take them once or twice a week when the pain gets really bad. I would get in to your doctor and once you know it's healed if you are still having problems with the pain ask to see a pain specialist. I was pregnant when I broke mine so couldn't do much for over a year for pain. I was miserable and labor was awful. I did get regular chiropractic adjustments until I could see a pain specialist. A pain doctor can give you cortizone injections that helped me immensly. Once it was figured out that the cortizone injections only lasted a couple weeks I went in and had the nerves burned in my tailbone and that took the pain down to nothing for quite awhile, probably close to a year. Now as I said, I only take pain pills once or twice a week as needed. If I'm really careful I can go quite a bit longer without them but it's hard being a single Mom with three special needs boys. The longest I've gone without taking anything for pain is 3 months but I am also on an anti-inflamatory regiment everyday since i stopped nursing. If I miss a dose of the anti-inflamatory I know it and have to resort to the stronger stuff.

Sorry to be such an downer - I wish I could have helped more.

S.

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D.G.

answers from Detroit on

They thought I might have fractured mine during delivery with my first. Sitting on a baby boppy was more comfortable than sitting directly on a chair or couch.

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R.S.

answers from Detroit on

ooooooooo I know it hurts. I was walking down our stairs and our huge dog took me out. I landed right on my tail bone and I am sure I broke it. The pain was worse than child birth. Bad news is it lasts for a few weeks. The really bad news is a year later, if I sit for too long it starts to ache. I do know there is nothing that can be done at the doctors office except I was told they will give you a rectal exam to determine if it is broke. YUCK I am sure that is the last thing you want. It will get a little better everyday.

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C.C.

answers from Detroit on

J.,

I injured my tailbone sledding last winter so I feel your pain. It was well over a month before I could sit down without thinking about it first. It continued to hurt after that but just not as severe.

You can go to the doctor for it but there isn't much they can do to fix it. I would suggest you take it easy until it starts to feel better.

Now, I don't have any residual pain from it but it does cross my mind when the kids want to go sledding. :)

Good luck and hang in there!

C.

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M.B.

answers from Detroit on

Pick yourself up a hemorrhoid pillow... it will take the pressure off your tailbone.

Ibuprofen... Tylenol... etc.

Hope that helps

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R.W.

answers from Jackson on

Sounds like it is either broken or badly bruised.

I did that when I was a teenager. It took abut 6-8wks to heal.

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M.W.

answers from Detroit on

Are you sure your tailbone is broken? I would get that confirmation first. If it is just jammed you can see a chiropractor that can help get it back into proper alignment and relieve the pressure from the nerves that cause shooting pains.
Hope this helps!

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K.A.

answers from Saginaw on

OUCH! I feel for you! I broke mine while in labor for my 9 yr old. I was in awful pain-took motrin religiously! 2 and a half yrs later-for as odd as it may sound-I got pregnant with my 5 yr old son! That`s when the pain stopped! Not sure why? But it hasn`t hurt since!
Good luck!
K.

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G.B.

answers from Detroit on

I broke mine in childbirth and then, years later, retraumatized it again when I did a huge sewing project, sitting for hours every day on a hard chair.
Buy a blow-up donut to sit on and use motrin as an anti-inflammatory for several days running. It's inflamed and you'll have to let it calm down. You'll always have to be careful with that area.

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M.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

i have done this a couple times and i know how painful it is......

try sitting more upright not against ther back of chairs ....and when standing or moving there isnt much help except for some ibuprophen as needed...it will take time to heal...sorry i can't say exactly how long but give it bout a mth..could take more or less

good luck

M.

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S.A.

answers from Lansing on

Hi J.. I really feel for you because a year ago I feel down a flight of steps while I was pregnant and landed directly on my tailbone. The pain was immediately intense, so much so that I couldn't stand up, walk or sit down. I never went to the doctor because there isn't anything that can be done unfortunately. I believe I either fractured, broke or badly bruised it. I was on the couch on my side for 3 days before I could get up and slowly walk around with assistance. It took about 6-8 weeks for me to feel like I could sit without pain. Depending on how bad you injured yours, it may take any where from a few weeks to several months. I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this and i really feel bad for you, It was possibly the worst thing that I have ever done to myself.

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A.A.

answers from Saginaw on

I have broke my tailbone 2 times in my life. I was a kid in school and slipped on the stairs and bam instant pain. I went to docs and they checked it out and it was broke both times, They gave me a pillow that looked like a toilet seat that I sat on and it went away in about 2-3 weeks . I feel for ya as I do know the pain of sitting on it without the poopoo pillow. They sell these at the drug store . Hope this helps you.

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