Chronic pain can be physically and mentally debilitating. You may struggle to get a diagnosis, which may lead you to do your own research into treatments. I have been suffering from chronic coccydynia (coccyx or tailbone pain) for 3 years. I am in a pain management programme and have read many articles and books about chronic coccyx pain, as well as being in some very supportive tailbone pain support groups.
Today, I would like to share with you some books that you might find useful in your journey to get a diagnosis or pain management for tailbone pain.
Tailbone Pain Relief Now! Causes and Treatments for Your Sore or Injured Coccyx by Patrick Foye MD
Dr. Patrick Foye MD, of New Jersey, USA, is one of the three highly respected coccyx experts in the world (the other two being John Hardy, London, and Dr. Jean Eves Maigne, Paris).
If you are a member of any of the coccydynia Facebook groups, you will see this book mentioned many times.
Even though I have done lots of research on coccyx pain, reading Tailbone Relief Now! Causes and Treatments for Your Sore or Injured Coccyx by Dr. Patrick Foye has everything in one package. I highly recommend giving it a read.
It contains lots of illustrations and in-depth information that will be extremely useful to someone in the early stages of tailbone pain. Even if you have a diagnosis of coccydynia, this book will still be helpful to give ideas of possible conversations to explore with your doctor. There is a useful chapter about dealing with doctors and keeping your own records throughout your coccyx pain journey.
The book contains information about dynamic x-rays (also known as sit-stand x-rays) to help diagnose the reasons for coccyx pain. This is rarely done in the UK, especially on the NHS, and several patients have been known to show instructions to radiographers on how to perform this x-ray – all thanks to this book.
I found the patient stories especially comforting. Not that I’d want anyone else to suffer from chronic coccyx pain, but it gave a much-needed reiteration that tailbone pain can cause depression and anxiety. There could be many reasons for this including:
- Trying to get a diagnosis and effective treatment for your pain.
- Not being able to travel far.
- Not being able to do normal social activities such as going to the cinema, or out for a meal, or to the pub, or even just sitting in an armchair to watch tv purely because you can’t sit down.
- Becoming isolated and losing touch with people because of the reasons above.
The vital anatomy chapter lists all the possible causes of coccyx pain and likens them to more common parts of the body which makes it easier to understand for someone who is not familiar with the anatomy and workings of the coccyx.
Another chapter deals with all the tests and treatments available to those suffering from coccydynia. I found it fascinating reading about complex regional pain syndrome and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. There were some treatments rarely mentioned in UK medicine such as the use of sympathetic nerve block lidocaine to relieve pain, and ganglion impar blocks for sympathetically maintained pain (SMP).
There is also a chapter on managing pregnancy and childbirth with coccydynia and treatment for children with tailbone pain.
As you will see, it is very comprehensive and probably useful to the families of those with coccyx pain too.
Tailbone Relief Now! by Dr. Patrick Foye is available as a paperback book and also as an ebook. It is available free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited, and Dr. Patrick Foye often offers the ebook free of charge via his Facebook page.
I Can Sit Again! – Clinically Proven Treatment for Tailbone Pain by Dr Jennifer Stebbing DO
Initially, I thought this was going to be quite heavy reading, especially after just reading Tailbone Pain Relief Now! by Patrick Foye. That had a more open and illustrated text, whereas I Can Sit Again! is all text.
However, I found this really informative, and this book covers far more than pain from the coccyx. Jennifer Stebbing looks more at the whole body and how other factors may be involved in the patient’s pain. The doctor discusses her methods of interviewing, testing, and diagnosing her patients.
She speaks of using different regenerative medicine as methods of orthopedic treatment such as prolotherapy, bone marrow stem cells, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and the connections to myofascial pain. Now whilst these methods won’t be available to many of us, particularly being reliant on NHS treatment in the UK, it is interesting to read and possibly explore further.
Diet, medication, general fitness, and lifestyle are an important part of a patient’s wellbeing and pain management are covered in the book too.
I Can Sit Again! – Clinically Proven Treatment for Tailbone Pain by Dr. Jennifer Stebbing DO is available on Kindle Unlimited and also as an audio book. It’s definitely worth a read.
I hope you’ve found these book reviews useful. I’d love to know what you thought if you’ve read them, or if you have any suggestions of other books that deal with coccyx/tailbone pain (coccydynia), or even ones that deal with pain management for any chronic pain condition.
I have many more posts coming about coccyx pain in the coming months so sign up for email alerts from the main page so that you don’t miss anything.
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These sounds fab! I like the first one introducing you to the anatomy a little more. I don’t imagine all that many people, myself included, knew much about the anatomy of the coccyx and interrelated structures, nerves etc until they developed a problem with it all. I wish these sorts of things were recommended by physios. I was at physio a few weeks ago and the woman in the adjacent area had coccyx pain; I highly doubt they’d do anything to actually help her, so these books would probably do a better job! xx
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The coccyx and pelvis is a very complex area indeed with so many muscles being affected by the tiny bit of bone. Patrick Foye’ s book is the handbook for tailbone pain.
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