With coccyx pain increasing exponentially whenever you sit, it is very important to find a good cushion that works for your body. Many of my patients have tried sitting on numerous items, from a purchased cushion to a household item. The most commonly used cushions are the doughnut pillows and wedges with a notch cut out for the coccyx. Others have sat on 2x4s, phonebooks, tractor tires, and the list goes on. I don’t care what my patients sit on, as long as it decreased the pain for them and it takes the pressure off the coccyx without irritating the rest of their spine.
So what should you look for when purchasing a cushion? When possible, sit on the cushion before purchasing it. This is hard to do when buying online. You can find a medical supply store beforehand so you can try them out before spending money on it. Make sure that your coccyx is in the designed hole or notch when you are seated in a comfortable position. I really discourage the use of doughnut pillows for this reason. In order to rest your tailbone in the hole of the doughnut, you need to slouch forward and balance on the front ring of the circle. This is not a good position for your body to sit in for long periods and will undoubtedly cause pain to travel up your spine due to the bad posture.
Next, make sure the cushion is made of high density foam that can support your weight. This is one complaint I hear from a majority of my patients. As they are sitting on their cushions, their body weight slowly compresses the foam until they end up sitting with their coccyx touching the chair. This defeats the purpose of using a support cushion.
Try to find a cushion that is easily transportable or buy multiples. In order to take the pressure off your tailbone to relieve the pain, you need to use the cushion every time you sit. Because of this, you must have a pad that you can bring with you or that is within your budget so you can purchase multiples to put on every chair that you may sit on throughout the day. This is especially true for car seats, which are notorious for increasing coccyx pain.
Due to the large amount of patients who are unsatisfied with the cushion options out there, we have been working on designing our own cushion. We have taken all of the above elements and put it into one, high density, multi-position, portable cushion (see picture). The unique 2 piece design allows you to put the pads as close together or as far apart as needed, they can even be placed in a “V” position with the opening towards your coccyx. If you would like more information on our cushion, please email the clinic at info@MidwestTailbone.com . We also include a complimentary set of these pads in each of our treatment plans to help speed up the healing in our patients.
For more information on our non-surgical approach to relieving patients of their tailbone discomfort, visit www.MidwestTailbone.com
Dr. Laura Posl
Midwest Tailbone Treatment Center
“I was able to sit with my family for supper for the first time in 6 months, because of this cushion!” -Marlyce
