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5 Tips To Ease Pelvic Pain that Won’t Go Away!

If Your Pelvic Pain Won’t Quit, Read on for 5 Tips to Ease Pelvic Pain!

Here at Purple Mountain PT we have a heart for anyone who is experiencing pelvic pain that just won’t quit. We understand the despair you feel and the lack of answers when you go from provider to provider or experience “random” pains that are unpredictable. Our Doctors of Physical Therapy have many years experience working with people who, unfortunately, have lengthy and frustrating journeys to finding us and getting the real help they need. In fact, at Purple Mountain PT we are known especially for helping people overcome pelvic pain. Our patients tell us that the therapy they receive with us is life changing and the best thing that has ever been done to help them. Here, you’ll find 5 quick tips to ease pelvic pain.

What are Some Common Things That Our Patients Tell Us? Here’s an example.

Sarah’s Story: Do You See Yourself in Her Story? Names have been changed for privacy.

Sarah is a 44 year old female who came to us with lower abdominal pain and vaginal/pelvic pressure that bothered her most days. It had been going on for the last six years or so, and developed around the time her last child was born. In those six years she thought her problem was an ovarian cyst, but when the doctor found a cyst she was told that it should simply be monitored and no further treatment was recommended. She found herself taking ibuprofen more often than she liked and this also caused some issues related to her migraines, rebound headaches. She developed some back pain and went to physical therapy for this; the PT didn’t help. At one appointment they had her sit in a chair and march in place and she thought it was a silly exercise that wouldn’t help her, so she stopped going. The pelvic pressure was worse around her menstrual cycle, but occurred throughout the entire month and was bad enough that she avoided jogging and intimacy.

Review of Sarah’s symptoms:

  • Abdominal pain
  • Vaginal pressure
  • Ovarian cyst present, but not thought to be the cause
  • Ibuprofen usage has increased over the years
  • Migraines
  • Back pain
  • Pelvic Pressure

She found us because one of her friends told her about us, but she had already been to physical therapy for her back and that PT told her that her pelvic floor was fine.

She was skeptical when calling Purple Mountain PT, but when her friend promised her that we were different and more effective, she scheduled an evaluation. At her evaluation, she told us that her pain was her main concern and was occurring nearly everyday and often causing her to feel out of shape and unable to workout to get into shape. Her pain seemed to be random and, therefore, she really felt like there was nothing in particular she could do to make it go away or help it to be better. We also discovered that she experienced urinary leakage and sometimes urinary urgency. Her constipation was an ongoing problem, with bowel movements once every 2nd or 3rd day. Intimacy was not comfortable and was not enjoyable, her libido was gone.

Additional pelvic symptoms we discovered for Sarah:

  • Urinary incontinence
  • Urinary urgency
  • Constipation
  • Painful intimacy & low libido

Our examination found that she had a variety of things that we needed to address to help her pain:

  • Myofascial restrictions in her abdominal wall including trigger points in numerous muscles that were contributing to daily pain. These included tension in her hip flexors and abdominal oblique muscles as well as rectus abdominus.
  • Diastasis Recti Abdominus: Sarah had a problem with the integrity of her abdominal wall, causing her to have a thinning and widening of her linea alba. This places excess stress and strain through the abdominal wall and pelvic floor, contributing to pelvic pain, bladder leakage, lower back pain and pelvic pressure. We specialize in helping women (and men) resolve their DRA. A DRA is a very common finding in our patients and we provide high quality assessment and treatment for this; this is unique to our clinic, as we find that for our patients a DRA is usually not properly addressed until they find us.
  • Tension and muscle guarding and tightness in her hip muscles, inner thighs and low back. These were a major source of her problem and needed to be effectively treated with myofascial release, trigger point release, joint mobilization and pelvic and low back alignment methods. We also included treatment to improve the strength of her hips and core muscles.
  • Pelvic floor dysfunction characterized by high tone pelvic floor, meaning her pelvic floor muscles were stiff and painful. These were a big driver of her pain and her urinary urgency and leakage and likely contributing to her constipation, also. By treating her pelvic floor dysfunction and her abdomen, hips and back, we were able to ease her pelvic pain and bladder symptoms.
  • Misalignment in her pelvis Her SI joint was not happy and we found that her hips and pelvis were not aligned. She also had some postural changes that were making it more difficult on her pelvic floor. We worked with Sarah to optimize her pelvic alignment and posture. By doing this, the stress through the pelvic floor was reduced, thereby lessening her pelvic pain and pressure.
  • The presence of migraines plus the chronic pelvic pain render us suspicious for her having a ramped up nervous system that easily experiences pain. We use a validated questionnaire to find out if this is the case and it was for Sarah. Because of this we use a combination of education, neural calming techniques, heart rate variability training and myofascial release and muscle calming hands-on methods to calm down her sensitized nervous system. Our patients find this treatment to be incredibly beneficial and a key thing we do that is not routinely provided. Our therapists have advanced training specific to calming the nervous system and restoring the bladder and bowel. We offer this because we know it helps our patients to feel better.
  • Inability to exercise is a big problem and something we needed to improve. We found she was quite weak & often tight in many major muscle groups including her glutes, quads, inner thighs, hamstrings, low back, postural stabilizers in her upper back, abdominals and calves. Her weakness was from a combination of being sedentary and also from her condition inhibiting the proper firing of her muscles; we needed to retrain the muscles and restore her capacity to exercises.

At Purple Mountain PT we begin treatment on your very first day. You can expect hands-on treatment methods to include myofascial release, trigger point release, corrective alignment methods, neural calming and lots of education in exercises and things you can do to help yourself. Because Sarah’s case is common and, if you are reading this blog, you likely share some characteristics with Sarah, we can offer five tips to ease pelvic pain to help you today. These are things you can try that we also suggested Sarah begin on her first day of treatment. Give us a call at (616) 516-4334  or contact us here to see if we can help you get back to what you’re missing!

5 Tips To Ease Your Pelvic Pain that Won’t Go Away!

Tip 1: Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing

The diaphragm is a pathway to calming down high tone pelvic floor and chronic pain. Learning to effectively breathe with your diaphragm is a key skill that is usually dysfunctional when someone has chronic pain. This may seem like a simple, useless tip. But, take our word for it and our patients’ word for it: diaphragmatic breathing is an important skill to help nudge your body out of pain.

Tip 2: Lengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles

This is tricky to learn and, especially when someone has chronic pelvic pain, usually they have very limited capacity to let go of their pelvic floor muscles because these muscles are stiff and tight. For the most effective results, you truly need hands-on care from one of our Doctors of PT. But, please give this tip a good, solid try. Practice makes perfect, so you’ll have to work on it multiple times a day.

Here’s one way you can learn how to melt your pelvic floor muscles: lie down in a quiet location. Clear your mind. Soften your breathing. Relax your abdomen. Bring your awareness to your pelvic floor area. Relax your glutes. Let go of your tailbone, invite it to float back towards the floor. Soften and open the anus, let go of the back area. Drop your vagina by fully letting go of it. Simulate peeing and invite a release/opening of the area where you pee. Never push these muscles to get them to release.

Tip 3: Optimize your gut health

This is crucial when trying to resolve pelvic pain. You must have daily bowel movements that are well formed and without straining. Look closely at your nutrition and eliminate all foods that might constipate you and/or cause intestinal bloating or distress. Consider seeing a dietician for expert guidance. Aim to eat 30 grams of fiber a day, if you can tolerate fiber.

Tip 4: Optimize your water intake

Because Sarah had some issues with urinary control and urgency, she had slowly reduced her water intake. This actually worsens bladder wellbeing and can contribute to bladder spasms and ongoing pelvic pain. For your bladder to be happy you need optimal water intake. You should be urinating about every 2 to 4 hours and you want your urine color to be light yellow.

Tip 5: Movement is Needed

With chronic pelvic pain we know that movement is needed. You must move. The less you do, the more you hurt. The challenge is figuring out how much movement is well tolerated and which movements to do. In general, it is smart to begin with brisk walking and some light stretching. Think about stretching your hips, low back and legs. Be gentle with your movements, never forcing a stretch.

Bonus Tip 6: Prioritize Sleep, Relaxation and Meditation. 

Sleep is how our body restores itself. You must prioritize sleep, address sleep apnea problems and keep a regular bedtime. By building relaxation and meditation into your daily routine, you will further nudge your nervous system towards a more balanced and less sensitized state and this will, in concert with everything else you are doing, help you have less pain. Research has shown us that individuals who have chronic pelvic pain experience higher rates of anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. We also know that multimodal (meaning a team of providers with various clinical expertise) care is best for you. For more on the benefits of physical therapy, check out this blog we wrote for a fellow PTs site. It is common that your team might consist of a physical therapist, counselor, psychologist, sleep specialist, gynecologist, physiatrist and other providers.

For our patient, Sarah, these 5 simple tips to ease her pelvic pain got her started with a plan for what she could do at home.

With our skilled therapy, which primarily comprised of hands-on treatments from her shoulders to her knees (because pelvic pain and fascia connections extend throughout the body), bladder calming treatments and parasympathetic nervous system activation, Sarah was able to gradually increase her exercise and daily activities and found that the “random” pains were not happening anymore. Once Sarah’s pain went away she told us that she couldn’t believe how long she had lived in pain and she wished she had found us sooner. Contact us today to speak with our knowledgeable and caring staff to learn more about our model of care and how we can help you.

A key feature of our treatment is our expert manual therapy methods and ability to diagnose and treat complex features of pelvic pain.

Of course, we assess and treat pelvic floor dysfunction and this is a hallmark of what we do. We are particularly skilled at identifying whether you have pelvic floor dysfunction. And, to be clear, if you have chronic pelvic pain you need holistic treatment to everything from your shoulders to your knees and maybe even your feet! Our doctors of physical therapy are fully trained in assess and treat all of these areas and provide you expert manual therapy methods + exercises to alleviate your pain. In addition to myofascial mobilization, trigger point release, pelvic balancing and postural corrections, we worked closely with Sarah completing specific exercises to reduce her pain while also building up better strength and function of her muscles, especially her core muscles, hips and thighs. Contact us here or call us at (616) 516-4334 to get your questions answered today.

While these tips to ease pelvic pain have worked for many of our patients, please keep in mind that you are not our patient and, therefore, this is not medical advice for you. Everything here illustrates what worked for Sarah and other patients. Please, if you are having pelvic pain that won’t quit, you deserve to be fully assessed by us. We are here to provide you the care that will give you results. Each appointment is upto 55 minutes long and in a private treatment room, with the same doctor of physical therapy every visit; we never bounce you around amongst lesser trained people. You can give us a call at (616) 516-4334 to learn more or contact us here! We wish you better days ahead. And our main message to you is that you don’t have to live like this! There is hope for you.

Peace,

 

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT and the Purple Mountain PT Team

 

References:

Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2019 March ; 62(1): 22–36. doi:10.1097/GRF.0000000000000412.

Pelvic Floor PT in Grand Rapids!

You Have Found The Best Pelvic Floor PTs in Grand Rapids!

Here at Purple Mountain Physical Therapy we offer advanced and expert pelvic floor PT in Grand Rapids for women, men and children. We understand that when you have a pelvic problem you don’t know where to go to receive your care and you want to make certain that you are getting the best results. Our doctors of physical therapy are uniquely qualified and offer you many years experience and advanced post-doctoral education specific to the challenging needs of pelvic health. To connect, connect us here, or call us at (616) 516-4334.

Pelvic Floor PT Explained!

Some patients tell us “I was skeptical this could help my urinary urgency and frequency, but now I’m a believer because it is so much better.”

We know that pelvic floor PT can be a bit of a mystery. Most of our patients tell us that they had no idea what pelvic PT would do for them. Pelvic floor PT is a specialty field within physical therapy that focuses upon treating bladder, bowel, pain and intimacy related problems for women, men and children. Our pelvic floor PT clinic in Grand Rapids is a place for you to be evaluated and treated with expertise and compassion in a trauma-informed setting that truly elevates the standard of care you should expect to receive from all of your providers. Our Doctors of Physical Therapy are licensed and also have completed extensive post-doctoral training specific to the field of pelvic health, spine and TMJ disorder physical therapy.  It makes a difference when you work with an experienced specialist.  If you are interested in learning more about working with our PTs here at Purple Mountain PT, reach out to us here or call us at (616) 516-4334.

What to Expect at Your First Appointment

It all begins with the first phone call!

First, you will know from your first phone call that you are receiving care from people who truly care about you and who strive to provide you with excellence. Our care is always welcoming, holistic, compassionate and trauma-informed.

Your Pelvic Floor Evaluation Appointment is Holistic and our Whole Body Framework ensures you receive comprehensive insights into the multiple contributions to your condition.

Your first appointment will be an evaluation, where we will go into depth with talking about your pelvic concerns. Some people come to us with focused and specific concerns, such as chronic lower abdominal pain that worsens with a full bladder. Other people come with more general pelvic concerns; for example, they had a child ten years ago and since then they have had some mild, annoying urinary incontinence and intimacy has not been quite the same. Men often present with severe pain that has been frustrating and ongoing. It is common that men have chronic prostatitis pain and/or nerve related problems of the pelvic floor. We are experts in nerve pain, including pain that radiates into the genitalia, perineum, anus and sit bones, as well as sciatic pain and other nerves. Rest assured, we will evaluate and treat every patient for the specifics related to numerous nerve conditions. Contact us for more information or call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with a knowledgable team member.

Your Pelvic PT Treatment Begins Day 1!   This first visit, it is our goal to begin the process of healing!

During this evaluation we begin treatment right away. This includes advising you on how to optimize bladder, bowel and intimacy function. If your child is our patient, we include the child and parent into all evaluation and treatment methods and all care is age-appropriate and focused upon optimizing the child’s bladder and bowel function. Our examination may include an in-depth assessment of your posture, hip mobility, low back function, thoracic spine and diaphragm. We examine and treat your abdominal wall strength and diastasis recti abdominus. Every adult patient receives a comprehensive myofascial assessment of all tissues from your shoulders to your knees (we check your neck and feet, if warranted, also). It is common that we find trigger points and areas of decreased blood flow in the tissues we evaluate and treat. As we discover items that are contributing to your symptoms, we educate you about our findings, commence treatment and help you understand what you can do to help yourself at home. Call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with our knowledgeable staff to your questions answered and see about how we can help you!

What is Pelvic Floor Dysfunction?

Broadly speaking, pelvic floor dysfunction refers to the muscles at the base of your pelvis not working quite right. In many cases these muscles have stiffness, tightness and trigger points. In some cases, the muscles are weak. Other times the muscles have adequate strength, but their timing and coordination with other muscles is impaired, leading to urinary or gas leakage or pelvic organ prolapse symptoms. When these muscles are not working properly, because they work in concert with your abdominal wall and low back, they often contribute to pain in the abdomen, hips or back. Some people with pelvic floor dysfunction have considerable pelvic pain. These muscles also provide you control of your bladder and bowel, so if they are dysfunctional you may experience urinary leakage or frequency and urgency. The pelvic floor muscles have both superficial and deep layers; for some of the women and men we treat their primary problem is in the superficial layers. We check all of the layers of your pelvic floor muscles so that you can receive the right treatment to effectively recover your problem. To read more about the benefits of physical therapy, check out this blog we wrote or contact us here!

What does Pelvic Floor PT Involve?

Our treatment is holistic. This means that we evaluate and treat the numerous things that contribute to your pain, so that you experience excellent results. Our treatment is not cookie-cutter. You get specific care related to your body’s needs. Our care is often hands-on manual therapy that includes myofascial release, trigger point release, and nerve release. We also focus quite a bit on improving blood flow to your tissues because blood flow is the source of life & nutrition for your body, especially your nerves. We also offer treatment that is exercise based and focused upon recovering the coordination and firing of your pelvic floor muscles with your abdominals, low back, hips and knees/feet. For some people’s needs, we include balance training, jumping exercises and dynamic exercises that challenge the pelvic floor muscles so that they begin to fire more appropriately. We will assess and treat your abdominal wall so if you have a diastasis recti abdominus, we will provide very targeted exercises and myofascial work to facilitate recovery of your abdominal wall. Connect with us here to get started.

Why Should I Choose to Come To Purple Mountain Physical Therapy?

Our goal is to provide you excellence in care so that you experience meaningful results. Each appointment is with the same physical therapist, is private and lasts upto 55 minutes. We never bounce you around to a lesser trained person or someone you don’t know. Because we have extensive post-doctoral training and experience treating very challenging pelvic conditions, you can expect an expertise that is difficult to find. You will find that our physical therapists provide trauma informed care in a compassionate setting that is focused upon clinical excellence. We are here to provide you world class pelvic health PT care in Grand Rapids.

Meet Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT Pelvic Health, Spine and TM Joint Disorder Physical Therapist.  Founder of Purple Mountain PT.   Wife, Mother.

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT is a pelvic health, spine & TM joint physical therapist specialist, serving the West Michigan region. Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT practiced for 20 years in Chicago working with some of the top surgeons and physicians in the country at Northwestern Medicine Chicago, Loyola University Health Centers and Rush University Medical Center. She had patients travel to her from all over the country and world, seeking relief from their pelvic pain and bladder conditions.

Dr. Maureen founded Purple Mountain PT to provide specialized, one-on-one treatment to her patients by giving them the time needed (upto 55 minutes each appointment) and a whole-body framework to properly and holistically treat you.

Dr. Maureen provides pelvic, spine and TMJ treatments to women, men & children who are wanting to improve their condition by accelerating results from working with an experienced specialist.  Dr. Maureen is the leader at Purple Mountain PT and the reason behind our whole body framework that informs all of the treatments you receive.   All of our physical therapists are trained directly by Dr. Maureen, to ensure you receive the specialized excellence that Purple Mountain PT is known for.  Dr. Maureen combines manual therapies with therapeutic exercise, patient education, rehabilitative ultrasound imaging, balance training, deep core retraining and neural calming.   She loves to educate you on what you should be doing and how to help yourself.  If you would like to work with Dr. Maureen, give us a call at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.  

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT is proud to be a member of numerous professional societies that are leading organizations in the field of pelvic health and pelvic research.

These include the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and the Intl Society for Sexual Medicine, The North American Menopause Society and the American Physical Therapy Association. Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT has even taught physicians, surgeons and other pelvic health physical therapists techniques for evaluating and treating complex pelvic health conditions.   Her more than 25 years’ experience are a culmination of broad post-graduate pelvic health, sexual health and menopause related advanced education including treating chronic pain, pregnancy & postpartum recovery, diastasis recti abdominis healing, male pelvic & bladder conditions and pediatric bladder & bowel development.   Her experience treating individuals with chronic TM joint disorders, cerivcogenic headaches and neck pain provides relief from headaches, neck and jaw pain and difficulty with chewing and yawning. She enjoys working with individuals with challenging TM joint disorders or complex pelvic problems, including painful intercourse, pelvic floor dysfunction and chronic pelvic pain. She has a special heart for women in the pregnant or postpartum recovery stages, as she loves those special times and understands the difficulty it can cause to a women’s body. She herself had a traumatic birth injury and had to recover her body through extensive rehabilitation. She creates a healing environment, in partnership with the patient, to optimize results and address all contributing factors in the pelvic condition. Dr. O’Keefe is committed to providing top level care to her patients and is actively engaged in ongoing advanced education to keep up with the latest research and methods.

How Do I Get Started with Pelvic Floor PT? I Have Some More Questions.

The first step is to call our office at (616) 516-4334 to schedule an evaluation. We like to understand what your needs are, so we can know that we can meet your needs. We love this work and consider it a privilege and honor to help people in such a meaningful way! We look forward to meeting you and helping you to feel like yourself again.

Peace,

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT and the Purple Mountain PT Team.

Other articles that may be of interest:

Tips to Fix Incontinence Naturally

Tailbone pain and How Pelvic Floor PT Can Help You! Plus Some Self-Care Tips!

Exercise in Pregnancy: A Physical Therapists Perspective

Physical Therapy for Male Incontinence in Grand Rapids

How Much Bedwetting is Normal?

How Can I Help My TMJ Pain?

Tailbone pain and How Pelvic Floor PT Can Help You! Plus Some Self-Care Tips!

A common problem that we treat is Tailbone Pain! Pelvic Floor PT is the solution you have been looking for! It works!

Coccydynia is the worst! You can’t sit!

Coccydynia means that the tiny bone at the very end of your spine, located just above your anus, hurts! And, boy, can it be a bugger! This is a very common problem and we treat it all the time. We help both women and men who experience coccydynia and they can experience complete resolution of their pain by getting the right pelvic floor PT to treat it! If you are dealing with tailbone pain that is persistent, don’t get frustrated and go from provider to provider looking for answers that they don’t have. Call us today at 616-516-4334 and let’s get you feeling better! Read on for more information about this condition and some tips to help yourself.

What Causes Tailbone pain? Is Coccydynia permanent? How will Pelvic Floor PT Help?

We treat tailbone pain (Coccydynia) by providing expert pelvic floor PT to both men & women. No, it is not permanent! We know it is persistent and you’ve probably had your pain for a while, but it will get better with the right treatment.

Sometimes the cause is trauma (you fell on it, your labor & delivery strained it). Other times the cause is pelvic floor dysfunction, specifically spasm of pelvic muscles that attach directly to the coccyx. And still other causes of tailbone Pain (Coccydynia) for which pelvic floor PT is warranted are misalignment of your pelvis and low back, postural strain or constipation. When you work with us we conduct a thorough evaluation to discover the multiple things contributing to your pain so that we can treat all of these. We provide holistic care, which means that our treatment is directed anywhere from your jaw to your knees because we know that fascial tension or restrictions in areas far away from the coccyx will pull on the coccyx and contribute to your pain.

Both Men & Women Can Have Tailbone Pain & Benefit from Pelvic Floor PT

It is common to experience persistent tailbone pain (Coccydynia) and to benefit from pelvic floor PT when postpartum and sometimes during your pregnancy. Women often come to us and report that when they sit down or stand up they experience excruciating tailbone pain in the midrange of moving. This is because the injured tailbone and pelvic floor muscles are experiencing stress with the positional changes. They also report they cannot sit, they must sit on their side or shift their weight because of tailbone pain.

How Pregnancy & the Postpartum Period Might Contribute to Tailbone Pain

When pregnant your entire pelvis and abdomen are changing, which alters the pressure and pulling within the pelvic floor and all of the pelvic joints. The tailbone experiences changes as your posture changes and the uterus and baby grow. For some women, this causes the pelvic floor to spasm or may strain the joint between the coccyx and the sacrum (the bone above the coccyx that it attaches to). Because numerous pelvic floor muscles attach directly to the tailbone, if you have spasms or stiffness in these muscles it will tug on your tailbone and cause you pain. The tailbone needs to be able to float and move freely, when this cannot happen and you sit down, you will sit right on that stiff and sore area. During labor and delivery a woman may experience trauma to her tailbone, which is a common reason why we treat women when postpartum for coccydynia. Pelvic floor PT is a crucial component to getting your pain resolved.

For men who have tailbone pain (Coccydynia) and come to us for pelvic floor PT we commonly discover considerable myofascial restrictions, pelvic floor dysfunction and hip, leg and low back tightness or lack of joint mobility that are contributing to their pain. They may have constipation and a history of straining to have a bowel movement, which might strain their coccyx. The coccyx needs to be able to freely move backward when you have a bowel movement and if everything is stiff, you might not get that motion and, therefore, cause strain to the tailbone. High quality pelvic floor PT will address the stiffness, muscle guarding and loss of joint mobility in the coccyx, hips and entire abdominal, low back and pelvic complex.

What should I do if my provider says I should get my tailbone surgically removed?

Dr. O’Keefe recalls years ago working closely with an orthopedic surgeon who recommended surgical removal of the coccyx when a person had coccyx pain. Please, if this has been recommended to you, first come see me or a very experienced pelvic health PT so you can receive quality and effective treatment for your coccydynia. Surgeons perform surgery, so that is what they will offer you, but it often does not work to relieve your pain. A tailbone that persistently hurts may be a bit of a mystery to your provider, but it is not a mystery to Dr. O’Keefe and other experienced pelvic health PTs. We can help you!

Will Pelvic PT help my Tailbone Pain? Do I really Need it?

Let’s use an analogy: Your knee hurts everytime you bend it, the joint is stiff and the muscles are tight. Do you need treatment to your knee? Treatment that addresses your knee joint mobility, your muscle strength and flexibility? Yes, you do.

With coccydynia the joints around the coccyx (tailbone) are stiff and the muscles are tight. There is imbalance in the pelvis and your hips, abdominals, back and thigh muscles are probably throwing off your tailbone. You need pelvic PT to figure this stuff out and to treat it. There are several pelvic floor muscles that attach directly to the coccyx and we find that our patients who went somewhere else to get their tailbone pain treated and who did not get better, did not get the right kind of hands-on treatment to the muscles that attach to the coccyx. We have numerous gentle techniques we use to help ease your problems. Some of them involve myofascial mobilization, or trigger point release, dry needling, postural correction, visceral mobilization, joint mobilization, myofascial stretching and pelvic floor release techniques. And our patients tell us they feel so much better after a pelvic floor PT appointment, it is all so helpful! If you’d like to read a research report summarizing treatments and evaluation for coccydynia, here’s a paper.

Here are some tips for Self-Care for your Coccydynia:

  • Watch your standing posture and figure out what positions bother your tailbone & adjust accordingly. It may be that having your head down, looking at your phone (even when you are standing up), worsens your tailbone pain.
  • When sitting, a cushion can help. I’ve had people use a cushion that’s the shape of a donut. Other people say that rolled up towels under their sit bones on the right side and left side help. Another cushion that can work is V shaped.
  • Sitting up tall often bothers the tailbone, so while we don’t recommend slouching the reality is that you often have to weight shift to get the pressure off of your tailbone and the posture doesn’t look fantastic, but it is necessary for the moment.
  • Take breaks often when sitting
  • Manage your constipation and avoid hard stools, which can aggravate the tailbone come BM time.
  • Try to massage the area adjacent to your tailbone. Sometimes applying gentle pressure here can release some of the tension.
  • Some activities should be avoided if you know they might aggravate your tailbone. Common things that patients tell us bother their tailbone include bike riding, motorcycle riding, horseback riding, lots of squats & lunges and gardening. The up/down movements of gardening and squats/leg workouts can bug a tailbone.
  • Play with ice or heat and see if either helps you. If you use either one, limit it to ten minutes.
  • Practice diaphragmatic breathing because your tailbone will respond to the gentle rhythm of your abdomen and ribcage moving.
  • Work to drop and release your pelvic floor. This can be very tricky and nearly impossible to do before getting good quality pelvic floor PT to release your muscles. But, if you can practice on releasing your pelvic floor it can help you.

I specialize in treating tailbone pain using effective pelvic floor PT methods! Because there are numerous pelvic floor muscles that attach directly to the tailbone as well as pelvic joints around the tailbone, the quality, hands-on, gentle treatments I offer help resolve your condition.

Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a specialty pelvic health physical therapy clinic. We help women and men with pelvic floor dysfunction, bladder, bowel and sexual health problems recover so they can live an active life! Our program for pelvic pain, including coccyx pain, SI joint pain, pubic bone pain and low back pain, is comprehensive and results oriented! We have been exclusively focused on pelvic health for over 20 years and offer a level of expertise and holistic care that you won’t find elsewhere! If you are wondering if we may be able to help you, call 616-516-4334 to talk to Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT. We can discuss your symptoms and condition and determine if pelvic floor PT may help you!

Peace,

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT