Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Tailbone pain

I have butt pain. It is my tailbone. It hurts something terrible. The back of my work chair is raised in an odd fasion that some people claim to be comfortable. I don't find it comfortable, in fact, I find it incredibly painful. Only recently I have noticed the pain in the car and on the exercise bike and even sitting on the couch. It doesn't seem to be SI because it really feels like my tailbone hurts. Anyone experience this? No injury that I can think of, just a gradual onset of butt pain...

Thanks!
Kelly

I have SI pain but I can't say that I have experienced tailbone pain. Have you had an X-ray?

Not yet, this has only been about a week in the making, but it is becoming intollerable. Worse during the transition between sitting and standing.

Hi Kelly,

I know in the years I have been reading here, others have commented on the tailbone pain. I have yet to experience, mine always stated in the SI area.

You can maybe search on "tailbone" pain if you have time.

Take care,

Tim

when i was younger, i was kicked / "knee'ed" in the tailbone by accident when horsing around with a family member. it hurt / was sore for months? years? so i know that pain.

thus i can say with confidence, i haven't had that pain with this disease of mine. which is funny because i think just about every other part of me has hurt one time or another.
i think my left elbow has been ok too

knowing how my body responds to things. it could be that chair causing your problem. maybe you could find another chair or get a cushion to sit on? just a thought.

sue

My AS started in my left heel. During the early days I had a lot of tailbone pain then it moved into the SI and worked it's way up my spine between the shoulder blades and I think that is when the fusing started. It is all the way up my neck. So I can't move my head to the left or right. Now that I am fused I get up every day pain free.

Doreen

I experience that burning tailbone pain.. right to the tip. Very much like when I got kneed in the tailbone as a child as Sue has noted. I can flex my gluteus muscles and pop my tailbone which gives some relief. Try sitting with a small pillow or cushion behind your tailbone in your chair or something... maybe it's a bad angle for your body.

Hi Kelly:

YES!

I've had SI joint pain for about 20 years, but in the last 5 or so, in addition to that hip pain, I began to be really uncomfortable when sitting. At first I noticed it when at the movies, when I would shift constantly, and always raise my feet and try to relieve the pressure, but it just kept getting worse. I didn't have the problem when standing or walking. It is actually worse for me on softer chairs than hard, I think because I can't control where the weight is supported on a soft cushion. Since then, I literally sit on the floor in our living room, and lean against our sofa when I watch TV.

About a year ago I was sure that it was due to a overly curved tailbone. X-rays sure looked that way to my GP and just about anyone I showed them to, a real hook to the coccyx. Of course, I had to endure some jokes at this point. The doctor looked at the X-Ray and said: "Wow, that looks like a fish hook!" At which point my wife wondered what kind of fish would go for that, and the doctor said, "It would probably be a catfish, because they're bottom dwellers!" Ha ha...

So I went to see a tailbone specialist in NJ, and he thought it was a possibility, so he ordered sitting/standing X-Rays with more detail on the coccyx. It was sure looking that I was going to be getting either surgery or a ganglia nerve block shot. But on the second visit, he looked at the new X-Rays, and came to the conclusion that my tailbone was NOT unusual, and in one of the toughest afternoons of my life, my hopes were dashed, and he sent me out of his office without an answer. I kept emailing him, as he was my best lead, and he went and reviewed my case, and when he saw that I was HLA-B27 positive (discovered when I had iritis) he thought I should investigate ankylosing spondylitis or some form of arthritis, and see a rheumatologist.

That's when I found KickAS, and the great people here, and started to look into other possible causes for my pain other than structural ones.

So I've come to think of my problem as related to inflammation, and it makes a good deal of sense, it explains some things that couldn't otherwise make sense, like why after exercising on my elliptical trainer, the pain would lessen rather than increase for a few hours. And I tried a colonic recently, as I wrote about in another post, I thought it must be a big clue, because it felt better for a few hours, with nothing in my system. Been on the NSD diet for most of the year, can't say it has helped for me, but I stay on it nonetheless, maybe it will start helping at some point. I also started sulfasalazine in September. Actually, I should backup here, I think I have felt some improvement in the SI joint, although it's hard to celebrate that when my butt is still so uncomfortable!

Lately as I read more, I think maybe I'm more likely a Reiter's Syndrome (Reactive Arthritis) sufferer than AS. Also because I have pain in the front as well, worse when I need to go to the bathroom, and better after I do.

That's kind of my story, or at least one chapter of it.

Also, other than here, in case your problem is your specifically your tailbone, a good site to visit is:

http://www.coccyx.org/

Hopefully, you don't have a fracture somewhere. Have you fallen down at any point recently?

No injury that I can think of. Of course my insurance is screwey right now and if I want to go get radiographs then I will have to pay for them... Maybe my vet can take them for me...