I have become the tail bone pain (coccydynia) expert of Central Texas. Recently I saw someone with coccydynia, from Waco, which is about 100 miles away, because no one there would see it. If a patient calls an orthopedic surgeon’s office in just about any city in Central Texas and asks to be seen for tailbone pain, they will be told there’s no one who will see that, and eventually the patients (99% are women) find me.

This is because there is nothing we can do for this problem, except to encourage the patient to do the following:

• Sit on a coccyx relief cushion 100% of the time. Buy 3 of these pillows, or take it everywhere you go. If you’re sitting, you need to be on a coccyx relief pillow unless you’re sitting straight up like a proper lady.
• Sitting straight up… It’s only then the pressure of sitting is placed on your ischial tuberosities (sit bones) and not on your coccyx. When you sit in a slumped position, all the pressure is on the tailbone. #1 and #2 are the only treatments that work, so…
• Start the above program on the very first day you feel tailbone pain. Do not wait for six months like most patients, thinking it will go away on its own.

Then there are anti-inflammatory pills, nerve blocks and a very risky operation, most of which rarely help. None of my colleagues want to see patients with this condition. It takes a long time to get well, and there’s no great endgame. Basically I’m a counselor–because it’s so frustrating for the patient–that they just need someone to work through it with them. And that’s me. The tailbone pain expert of Central Texas.