If you have tailbone pain (or coccyx pain) while you are riding a bike or cycling the video below outlines here are six modifications that you can make to help to decrease the pain.
I’m Dr. Patrick Foye, Director of the Coccyx Pain Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, online at www.TailboneDoctor.com.
Bicycling with tailbone pain is often quite problematic and painful for a number of reasons.
Number one is that the coccyx or tailbone typically sits right on the narrow seat of the bicycle, so it’s quite painful.
So here are six things you can do:
Number one: you can ride less or ride less often or less far, or stop riding if riding is not that important to you.
But if it is important to you, here’s five other things you can do.
Number one is that you can change the seat so that it has a wider seat. If it’s a wider seat, it’ll be putting more of the body weight onto the other sit bones down here at the ischium and therefore not putting as much pain or pressure at the midline of the coccyx.
The other thing you can do is get a seat with a coccyx cut out so that the coccyx sort of hovers over that empty area so it’s not making as much direct content.
The fourth thing you can do is to lower the handlebars. If the handlebars are lower, then while you’re riding you’ll tend to flex forward more and therefore when you do that you’re lifting you’re tilting the pelvis forward and you’re taking the coccyx a little bit away from the seat giving you a little bit more clearance. You do have to be careful though because the further you go forward with your handlebars it does put additional stress or strain on the neck and shoulder area.
The other thing you can do is to ride kind of standing up on your pedals, so basically standing up, so that you’re not sitting flat on the seat. You can do that at least intermittently. And another thing you can do is to get a standing bike, which almost looks like an elliptical machine, where you’re more doing this gliding motion back and forth rather than sitting on a seat.
Bonus tip: consider padded cycling shorts, or Ass Armor.
So I hope that’s helpful. If you have tailbone pain and are still interested in cycling those are some tips that you may find useful. Of course discuss them with your in-person treating physician.
And if you need more information on tailbone pain you can find me on my website which is www.TailboneDoctor.com.
Or you can get my book on tailbone pain on Amazon.
Okay, I hope that helps. Bye-bye.
Here is the YouTube video:
His personable, private-practice office is located on a modern, renowned, academic medical school campus, at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
For an appointment, call 973-972-2802.
https://tailbonedoctor.com/
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