I recently had my first experience with acupuncture for tailbone pain that has been bugging me for months. This is the first time I have had acupuncture treatment and thought it would be interesting to share my experience. I have had back problems for about 20 years, mostly sciatic nerve pain so I am no stranger to different treatment methods, but this was a first.
For the past several months though, I have been dealing with tailbone (coccyx) soreness. The coccyx is the small, triangular bone that kind of looks like a tail and is located at the bottom of the spine.
Basically, what has been happening, is that I have pain when I sit for too long. When I get up, my tailbone, or coccyx hurts.
I have purchased seat cushions for my work and home office chairs, and a lumbar support for my truck. Although I have received some relief, the pain has not completely gone away.
With a recommendation from a friend, I went to see a chiropractor who also happens to specialize in acupuncture. At the time I had no idea that acupuncture would be on the table as part of my treatment. When the doctor recommended acupuncture as part of my treatment, I was a little unsure, just because I have never done that before.
This would be uncharted territory for me, and admittedly I am not great at trying new things. But what the heck, let’s see if acupuncture would help me.
I had a lot of questions, but just kind of went with it. I don’t claim to be an expert in acupuncture, but it deals with balance and energy in the body. You can read more about how acupuncture works.
If you have not had acupuncture as a treatment, you may have many of the same questions I did, so let’s run through some of them.
Does acupuncture hurt?
No, it doesn’t hurt. All I felt was a small prick as the doctor put the needles in my butt. Yes, I am talking about tailbone pain, so the doctor filled my butt with needles. I am sure this area is more sensitive than other areas on the body.
Anyway, the initial poke was not painful. My treatment was a total of 16 minutes. The doctor put the needles in, and then after 8 minutes, he spun them around. Then I laid there for 8 more minutes with needles in my butt.
What does it feel like?
After the initial poke, I didn’t fell much, aside from my muscles twitching. This was the reason for the needles in the first place, my gluteus medius is REALLY tight, along with some of the other muscles in my butt. The chiropractor actually told me he had never seen anyone with glutes as tight as mine. That is not what I want my claim to fame to be.
I could feel my muscles twitching throughout the acupuncture process. The doctor said this was a good thing. Aside from the initial prick of the needles, and my muscles twitching, I didn’t feel much.
Did it help?
Acupuncture was part of my treatment plan, along with massage and an adjustment. What my doctor told me is that acupuncture helped to loosen up my muscles which allowed him to make the necessary adjustments. In this case, acupuncture was a part of the treatment approach.
Although not completely fixed, I do feel that after my initial visit, I am making progress.
Electrical stimulation
My second visit included acupuncture with electrical stimulation which is often added as a way to improve the effect. I tell you what, that definitely felt different! After inserting the needles and hooking me up to electrical stimulation, the doctor told me to tell him when it felt like about a 3 or 4 on my pain scale.
This time I did have to have the doctor dial it back a bit because I had one specific spot where it did actually hurt. My super tight butt muscles were on high alert and were way more sensitive to this added effect. After finding the sweet spot though, it was no big deal. We did this again for 2 eight-minute sessions for a total of 16 minutes.
Conclusion: Acupuncture for tailbone pain
There you have it, my first experience with acupuncture. Acupuncture was used in conjunction with massage and adjustments, so it was part of the overall treatment approach.
When I first walked into the doctor’s office, I didn’t know that he was going to poke needles into my butt. I was honestly a little nervous, just a fear of the unknown. At the end of the day, acupuncture was an interesting experience and now I am not afraid anymore.
I will keep you updated on my progress, as I mentioned acupuncture was one piece of the plan to get rid of my tailbone pain, so hopefully, I will have good news to report in the near future.
Do you have experience with acupuncture? Have you ever tried acupuncture for coccyx pain?
If so, I would love to hear your thoughts.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Checking into acupuncture myself to relieve persistent tailbone pain after a hard fall on it with diagnosed fracture in Feb. 2019. Will be following your progress – Thanks.
I hope acupuncture can help you. I never had a traumatic event that lead to my tailbone pain, it just sort of showed up. In May of 2018 I decided to start running as a way to push myself in my exercise routine. I was never much of a runner, but wanted to do something other than just go to the gym. After a few weeks of running, that is when the tailbone pain showed up. I went to my usual chiropractor a few times and ultimately that never helped. Then I decided to try a different chiropractor that a friend of mine recommended. Like I mentioned in the article, I had no experience with acupuncture before that.
I can tell you that in the past few months my tailbone pain has all but gone away. I definitely think that acupuncture helped, by loosening up the muscles around the coccyx. From that point I think it just took time to heal. It took a long time, but now I am mostly free of pain when I sit down and get up. It’s actually been about 15 months since the pain showed up until now it’s mostly gone. I have not had any treatment or done anything else, other than use my inversion table.
I wish you the best and hope you find some relief.