This page will try to keep you up-to-date on a variety of Tailbone-related topics in the news. We will include news articles that we come across that we think would be of interest to you.
Sample News Topics that this page will post about, when we find them in Newspapers, Magazines or online News:
Other tailbone injuries (other types of injury to the coccyx, injured tailbones, trauma to coccygeal bones, bruised coccyx)
Famous people who get tailbone injuries if covered in the news (e.g., athletes, celebrities, etc.)
Other tailbone topics that make it into newspapers or onlin NEWS.
Check back often: we will be updating this page soon.
"Oh my aching … and aching …
back: Chronic back pain increases as people age"
By Wendy J. Meyeroff,
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE (which is read by more than 6 million people every month)
Posted on Saturday, September 01, 2007
This news article covers Tailbone
(coccyx) pain as people get older.
It includes an interview with Dr. Foye.
Excerpts:
“Your coccyx, or tailbone, is one of the most serious
and challenging sources of back pain in older adults,” says Patrick Foye,
M.D., director of the coccyx pain service, (www.tailbone.info) at New
Jersey Medical School in Newark. “The tailbone is actually a series of
bones at the base of your spine. As people age, these bones can fuse,
fracture, dislocate, or develop arthritis. Sitting becomes intensely
painful. But for years doctors could only offer two options: ‘grin and
bear it’ or undergo a very radical surgery removing the tailbone.”
Foye is teaching a new treatment—an injection— for
tailbone pain. “If the cause is inflammation near the tailbone, sometimes
we inject steroids. But more often I inject a local anesthetic,” he says.
“At the tailbone, a local anesthetic injection can
decrease the irritability of a major nerve network (the ganglion impar),
often bringing years of relief,” Foye says. “We might bring your tailbone
pain down from a 10 to a 4 initially, and often even better after a couple
of injections. (Results vary with each individual.) We have had people say
that now, after the proper injections, they can sit for a 45-minute drive
to go visit their grandkids,” he adds.
Low back pain enters evolving
treatment matrix
BioMechanics
By: Andria Segedy
September 2007
About the magazine: BioMechanics is
a monthly newsmagazine dedicated to total body movement and medicine. Biomechanics
reaches 36,000 sports medicine and body movement specialists in orthopedic
surgery, physical therapy, clinical athletic training, O&P, podiatry,
pedorthics, physiatry, rehab and occupational therapy.
BioMechanics: In the next five years, what is on the
horizon for treating patients with low back pain?
Foye: Over the next few years an understanding of the
causes of and treatments for pain in the lowest part of the low back-the
coccyx or tailbone-will increase. Many patients with this type of pain,
unfortunately, have been incorrectly told that the pain is all in their
head. Often, the problem is that the physicians fail to obtain the proper
diagnostic tests. Coccyx x-rays using coned-down views can minimize the
challenging exposure (washout) problems that would otherwise occur if the
films included the lumbar spine and pelvis. X-rays performed while the
patient is seated allow biomechanical assessment for dynamic instability;
coccyx dislocations are seen only if the x-rays are performed while weight-bearing
(sitting). As these imaging procedures are increasingly used, physicians
are finding the pathology that explains the tailbone pain their patients
have endured for years. Only after making an accurate diagnosis can
appropriate treatment options be considered.
BioMechanics: What new treatments are emerging and why?
Foye: Emerging treatments for coccydynia have included
newer, safer, and easier techniques for performing nerve blocks at the
coccyx. It now appears that some component of coccyx pain is often
mediated through the sympathetic nervous system, which can be treated by
blocking nerves within the ganglion impar. Injecting local anesthetics
(without steroids) can frequently give substantial sustained relief of
tailbone pain and can occasionally provide a complete and sustained cure.
I published two new techniques for impar injections in 2006 and 2007.
Many patients with tailbone pain used to be told that
their only options were to either continue suffering for years or have
their entire tailbone surgically removed, a drastic procedure that can
cause biomechanical complications. Now rehabilitation physicians and other
pain management experts are learning that particular nerve blocks can
relieve coccyx pain without surgery, preserving the tailbone's
biomechanical functions. Coccyx injections that are performed blindly
(without fluoroscopic guidance) are becoming increasingly less common, as
they are considered less precise and are presumably less effective and
safe.
BioMechanics: Do you see the role of bracing or other
modalities for back pain treatment increasing, decreasing, or staying the
same?
Foye: One theory about why coccyx pain often becomes
chronic is that there is no easy way to immobilize or rest the coccyx: no
brace or cast exists that can stop coccygeal movement to allow for
appropriate healing. Nor has there ever been an effective orthopedic
surgical technique to immobilize the coccyx. Sitting on a cushion with a
space cut out for the tailbone can be less painful than not using the cushion,
but the pain and limitations often persist. Research will most likely
continue to expand the treatment options for these patients.
Andria Segedy is a freelance writer based in
Huntsville, AL.
Patrick Foye, MD, is the director of the Coccyx
Pain Service at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in
Newark.
Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Coccyx Pain Center, PM&R at UMDNJ: New Jersey Medical School, 90 Bergen St, DOC Suite 3100, Newark, New Jersey, USA, 07103
Disclaimer: This web site is for general informational purposes only.
The information should not be considered as medical advice.
The information is not a substitute for appropriate in-person care by a healthcare provider with expertise in evaluating and treating tailbone pain. This website is not meant to represent official views of any university, medical school, hospital, etc.