tailbone pain help!

[Norco Maniac]

posting in this section because it's my hardtail that's causing it....

i've been building up my riding stamina by riding short commutes on my hardtail. usually between 10 and 25k's a day, 6 days/week, mostly on the flat with a couple of short sharp hills. fair bit of pedalling seated and i have a Selle Italia lady gel saddle. saddle is up fairly high for pedal stroke efficiency so i have to raise my leg above hip height to straddle the bar, the bike is a bit big for me and also weighs 16.8kg.

it's been building up over the last six weeks of riding, and last weekend's trip away (6 hours train, 2 in car each way) and a fall in the final haven't helped!

i've been doing all the stretching i would usually and have booked a session at my chiro Thursday, today i admitted defeat and saw my GP for some Celebrex. i can't move without grunting from the pain and today's ride was awful.


does anyone else have a tailbone story, and what did you do? how long before it resolved and with what treatments?

 

[JIM80B]

I can't offer any solutions, but I broke my tailbone on a hardtail and used it as an excuse to buy a duellie. It healed with some time off the bike and hasn't given me any grief since.

My tailbone had the muscles spasming around it and that was some of the worst pain I've ever felt (having had a fractured wrist - bike, dislocated kneecap - soccer, broken nose - sailing, along with suffering severe polyarthritis for the last 12 months). A damaged tailbone is definitely painful.

An Osteopath might be able to help.

All the best.

 

[JP]

The missus was cleaning the top of the bookshelf while standing on top of a chair. As she started to step off she twisted for some unknown farkin reason and instead of a clean side dismount she stepped backward-ish and almost impaled herself on the back of the chair. Our dining chairs are solid and weigh a tonne so there was no way her tailbone was winning that clash. Yelling, screaming, cursing, gnashing of teeth, ninja kicks launched in my direction (just the usual from her), etc etc followed.

According to the quack no serious damage was apparent but she needed some test done to check for other damage. She never got it done(?) but she was off the bike for 7-8 months and in some serious pain for a good 3/4 of that time.

Treatment= rest and not irritating the area by bike riding. The killer bit is she had just bought a new duallie the week before the incident and it had also been raing for that week. She was hanging to get out on it. Because she couldn't ride it wa up to me to fly the flag and ride as much as possible while she stayed home. WINNER! I think that may have hurt more than the injury.

All is well now and she is loving the riding again.

 

[indica]

Any chance is it related to the Women thread???? :hurt:

Ditch the heavy hardtail and buy a real bike.

 

[Norco Maniac]

haha Indica - it truly *was* a great weekend's riding all round :whip:

but no, the tailbone thing is definitely the extra k's on the hardtail. my race cruiser is 9kg, and the vintage 20" i raced on the weekend weighs in at a whopping 15kg! i'm technicolour from stacking in the final and having the other rider's bike land on me too.


JIM8OB - i will see my chiro, he's also an applied kinesiologist, so i'm sure he'll be able to help. i can't quite get there to massage it myself effectively!

JP - i'd love to stay off the bike but unfortunately it's my only transport at the moment. i'll have to work something out, i'm flying to Mt Gambier in five months and i'd love to at least roll around their track so i'm really trying to get my race fitness happening.

i don't usually take painkillers or any drugs for that matter, and one anti-inflammatory has made a difference. hopefully a few days of short rides and drugs will help.

 

[indica]

Buy a fucking real bike.
Real bike have rear suspension. It works. :mmph:

Shut your hole Mad Hatter... 29er rigid single speed is what fucked your back.

 

[Norco Maniac]

Buy a fucking real bike.
Real bike have rear suspension. It works. :mmph:

Shut your hole Mad Hatter... 29er rigid single speed is what fucked your back.

onya, Indica wouldn't it be overkill to buy a dually just for road commuting tho?

i'm sure it's the pedalling sitting down that's doing it, the difference in the leg action. a week of drugs and only riding my short loop every second day hasn't helped, i'm only getting relief in the first few hours after tking the pills.

back to the chiro in the morning.

 

[Shredden]

Maybe, maybe this is just a theory. But do you have a really wide cushy seat? I get tailbone/hip pain from riding bikes with big wide seats as well as from riding motos with their wide seats. Just a theory.

 

[indica]

onya, Indica wouldn't it be overkill to buy a dually just for road commuting tho?

No, never is buying a bike overkill. N+1!!!

 

[alpine_style]

While some time off the bike may help, some times you just gotta do what you gotta do.

So perhaps adjust the seat a little lower - lots of good folk have the seat sitting a little too high. Your aim ought be for comfort rather than efficiency right now.

And perhaps look to getting to the swimming pool. If it offers you a little weightless relief to just float and walk around then it will at least be good for the mindset - being able to do something active though pain free will be good for the psyche.

Also, look out for over-compensating for the sore tail. (As you've probably already thought of) Some times when we adjust the way we move our body -so as to avoid irritating one area- we can consequently start to strain a muscle somewhere else.

 

[SuperSix]

maybe it would help if you sit across the saddle. Put weight on one of your thigh diagonally across the saddle when you're coasting. It'll be difficult to pedal properly but at least you relieve your tail bone the pressure it's taking. Further, some saddles have middle groves which allows for blood circulation in the areas where there's a lot of pressure.

 

[failure]

If you have the seat to high your hips will roll as you reach the bottom of your pedal stroke. This usually causes lower back pain.

 

[Norco Maniac]

thanks a heap for the ongoing suggestions, guys.

Shredden - i'm fairly sure the saddle (see pics) is a good fit, tho i did notice today that i'm more comfortable if i sit a little further back onto it. i've got about 10mm of adjustment either way still, will try that and see if it helps. i could possibly even tilt the nose of the saddle up a little while i'm at it.

alpine_style, SuperSix, failure - i've got the height set so that my knee is still slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke, sitting down. when i'm coasting down hills i tend to put my weight on a pedal, usually my left, so i rise off the saddle a little and don't jar my back as much. will have to try swapping feet just in case it helps, i'm a left foot starter and it's my shorter leg.

i've also had a couple of back injuries and my L5/S1 is fused. i haven't experienced tailbone pain racing BMX, i'm certain it's the sitting to pedal that's doing it. stood up more on today's ride and that made life easier.

let's see if bringing the saddle forward helps, if not, i'm now wondering if it's actually a little narrow for me? i've got a fairly solid bone structure for how short i am - true childbearing hips there's no-where to be fitted here as far as i know.

 

[alpine_style]

Specialized stockists have an 'ass-ometer' - it's a reasonable guide to a seat width that may work for you. The 'ass-ometer' will also indicate whether you may find either a flat, concaved, convex, or more grooved shaped seat more comfortable.

Once you get the low-down on that stuff, PM me. I have some very fancy bike seats doing nothing here. If I've a seat that may suit, I'll send it to you. If you still like it after a month, we can then talk about maybe doing a cheap deal. If it doesn't feel right, send it back to me.

 

[Norco Maniac]

Specialized stockists have an 'ass-ometer' - it's a reasonable guide to a seat width that may work for you. The 'ass-ometer' will also indicate whether you may find either a flat, concaved, convex, or more grooved shaped seat more comfortable.

Once you get the low-down on that stuff, PM me. I have some very fancy bike seats doing nothing here. If I've a seat that may suit, I'll send it to you. If you still like it after a month, we can then talk about maybe doing a cheap deal. If it doesn't feel right, send it back to me.

thanks for the suggestion, and the offer of a loan much appreciated. i've found the one shop here that does have an ass-ometer but they're right across town, so i'll have to cadge a lift over. i don't drive, have had to surrender my licence.

will definitely get back to you as soon as i've been measured up.

 

[3viltoast3r]

If you have the seat to high your hips will roll as you reach the bottom of your pedal stroke. This usually causes lower back pain.

Try dropping your seat an inch or so to take some of the weight off your ass. I find if I have my seat too high I can end up in a little bit of pain.. Although I am using a fairly minimalist saddle with pretty much no padding at all:

 

[Norco Maniac]

about time i came back to this!

i ended up on anti-inflammatories for a month, which helped while i was taking them but seemed to make things worse when i stopped. then i've discovered that i have a spasm in my levator ani muscle and quite possibly a trigger point internally in my right psoas major, not surprising when i look back at the events of last year. i've been doing a fair bit of work on myself and have managed to relieve most of the pain, thank goodness! it's not the kind of bodywork i'd be comfortable going to a physio for....

i've also gone from a Medium frame on my Norco to the XS and adjusted the saddle position/angle and got a fair bit of relief. i'm still riding every day on the creekside trails here in Adelaide, mostly on a smooth sandy/gravel surface as they're extensively used as walking/jogging tracks.

it's interesting i've been mostly pain-free for a couple of months, but i tried to shave five minutes off my commute yesterday (and succeeded) and i'm paying the price in pain today - not to mention i've still recovering from a nasty couple of stacks at bmx.

thanks again for the help and advice