Tail bone pain any input?

[Harrison]

Brad,

When I first suspected I had a tailbone problem, it was 2 years ago - and that was the first chapter in my long journey that ended with ADR. My L5-S1 disc degenerated over the years; then due to a fall deflated quickly over 6-12 months.

Did your doc review your films with you? Did you see how much disc space you have lost? If you do not already have your films (ideally on CD), you may want to get copies for yourself...

[Brad]

Mariaa, boy are our symptoms the same.

I just hope the ADR fixes it.

Harrison, yes my ortho did two sets and could not see anything wrong with the bone. I have had ct scans and mri's and discogram. L5/S1 looks like one of those truck tires you see laying on the freeway. Shredded on the inside and just waiting for trouble.

From what I gather here I am just another spiney with nerve pain. My orthopedic doctor did say that he thought the ADR would clear it up.

thanks for the input

Brad

Brad,

Do not set yourself up a disapointment if and when ADR does not totaly fix your tailbone pains. Assume ADR can and will only will fix your disc problems. Think of tailbone as a seperate issue that should be addressed now through stretching and massage. I am sure we could end up with the chicken and the egg question that can never be trully answered about this. Take this approach, and free up you tailbone now. It cannot hurt you and it might reduce some of the pain your disc is causing you, and buy you somemore time. Understanding and breaking down the cause of pain is not easy and ADR surgery cannot fix it all overnight. It is a step on the road but not the destination. The more you activly work on secondary pain generators now the better chance you have of a quicker amd more complete recovery if and when you need surgery.

Others have gone into ADR surgery with unrealistic expectations of the time frame, and extent of their recovery. Their continued secondary pains and problems after surgery dumbfound and depress them. Your attitude and expectations going into and after ADR surgery are huge factors in your recovery. ADR is a wonderful new option for dics problems but it is not the silver bullet.

My point to all this is to get you activly doing everything you can for your tailbone pain now. Too many spineys give up on themselves and wait for ADR to magicly make them pain free. If ADR is in your future then preparing your body now will greatly speed your recovery.

Stay strong.

Pat

P.S. This reply is not directed to anyone who has posted to this thread. Please take it as my opinon to Brad's hope that ADR will fix his tailbone pains.

[Brad]

Pat,

I agree with what you are saying. I should basically start from the beginning with this tailbone thing and not jump directly to the end. This has to start with stretching, no matter what the problem is. It is hard not to fall into the mind set that ADR will do the job. Especially since I have come to the point where I feel I am ready for ADR without the tailbone pain. Of course I hope that it will fix it but I am prepared to deal with it if it doesn't.

Great advice!
Brad

[ReachtheSummit]

Brad,

I wasn't going to reply to this because I don't want to cause you concern but I also know that the value of this forum is to honestly share experiences. I have had ADR and I too have tailbone pain. I actually can feel it down through my sacrum at times. Only I did not have this prior to ADR so it is my uneducated belief, at least for me, that it is a result of my spine being lengthened, straigtened, corrected etc. Unfortuneatly after being injured for so long all the surrounding tissues in your spine adapt and compensate then when you the discs are replaced it tales time for everything to realign. I am sure it is the same concept as with degeneration the more your discs degenerate they start to affect surrounding structures i.e. tailbones, which then cause you pain. My point is like someone said ADR did not magically take all the pain away, it took my disc pain away my sciatic pain away, but created new pain for awhile due to surrounding tissue being adjusted like the nerves in my legs, burning feet, sore muscles, my tailbone etc. Because of this forum and those before me who have had ADR I accepted it going in. With that being said the disc pain being gone alone was worth the whole thing and I am only 3 months out so I expect that some of the remaining things to get even better. Worse case scenario for me is that this is as good as it gets I'll take it in a heartbeat.

[JL]

Brad,
I am new and this is the exact question I have which answered will exclude so much of my negative thoughts also on ADR maybe doing only half the job. When I have pain in sacrum which is my beginning place it just takes over, and like yours resides right at the tip too. The tip is the sharp pain and up a few inches is pressure pain. I can wrench it out with 1/2 hour on the floor at least 2X/day and at bed time. I get it from sitting and standing and pretty much everything in between. That is why I figure and hope it to be some bundled nerve somethings originating from L5. My medical people tell me the tailbone pain is unrelated to L5. I had an injection to help the below L5 pain and it didn't even come close, where the other epidurals were direct hits on L5. I am really glad I was here to read your question and the replies and could use more stories related to this.

JL

[Brad]

Hi guys,

I have been out of town and just getting back to logging in.

It is really interesting to hear of those who have bad L5/S1 and also have tailbone pain. I will get the surgery and make sure I post a follow up on this. If it helps, great, if not then at least I hope to get rid of the lower back pain.

P.S. I cleaned my pool today and am now paying dearly for it. I never swim in the stupid thing so maybe after I get the surgery I will fill it in with all the pain killers I am taking