This is a webinar for pelvic clinicians, coordinated by Tracy Sher PT/CEO Pelvic Guru, and Global Pelvic Health Alliance Members (GPHAM), April 6, 2021.
Coccyx Pain, Tailbone Pain, Webinar by Patrick Foye MD, for Pelvic Guru, GPHA, April 2021
Live access will be for members of the Facebook group for “Global Pelvic Health Alliance Members (GPHAM)”.
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
This eBook on Tailbone Pain is Free on Amazon worldwide: April 1, 2021, Pacific Time.
“Tailbone Pain Relief Now! Causes and Treatments for Your Sore or Injured Coccyx” by Patrick M. Foye, M.D., Director of the Coccyx Pain Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Learn all about how to find answers and relief for your Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia.
Click on “see all formats” (as shown by the red arrow in the image below) and then choose the e-book / Kindle version, which is FREE all day. You do not need a Kindle to get this free book… you just need an Amazon account, which is free. You can download the ebook to your laptop, desktop computer, iPad, e-reader, Kindle, etc.
Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Free-Book, April 1, 2021, coccydynia, by Patrick Foye MD
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
Tailbone Pain Book, for Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia, by Patrick Foye MD
“Long COVID” is now called PASC. PASC is the acronym for post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). This is a ridiculous name change.
Long COVID is sometimes referred to as “Long Haul COVID”. Either way, whether it is “Long COVID” or “Long Haul COVID”, the term is easy for people to learn, pronounce, and understand. Long COVID is also relatively self-explanatory. Long COVID is simply long-term effects after a COVID-19 infection. That’s easy. Clear. Simple.
But sometimes when experts and bureaucrats find something that is working well they can not resist messing with it and making it worse. Much worse.
So, Long COVID is now called PASC. Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC).
PASC is a ridiculous term.
Experts unfortunately decided to change the name from Long COVID to something that will be tough for most people to remember or understand. Learning and using the new name will be especially tough for the following people: those who do not work in medicine or science, those who do not have the privilege of advanced education (and the vocabulary that comes along with that), those with reading or learning or memory disabilities, and those who use English as a second language. As discussions increase about health equity, we should have our words provide easier access to medical understanding. Instead, the term PASC will be a hurdle that prevents many people from learning about this condition. Worse yet, if people do not know or understand what something is called then they will have a difficult time finding medical care for that condition. Creating and using unnecessarily complex jargon is one way that elite groups unintentionally make things difficult for others.
As physicians and medical educators, we are told that medical communication should strive to meet the public at the grade school reading level. This is not ‘dumbing things down.” Rather, it is speaking or writing in a way that is clear to as many people as possible.
But… in the phrase “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection”every single word will be unfamiliar to MANY or MOST non-medical people…
“Post:” many people don’t know that this means “after.” Also, there are many non-medical uses of ‘post’ such as blog posts, post offices, fence posts, an office or position to which a person is appointed, Post-it notes, etc.)
“Acute:” many/most people don’t know that this means “sudden in onset.” Also, acute can mean “severe,” which is thus potentially inaccurate since Long-COVID can potentially happen to those whose initial COVID was relatively mild, rather than severe. Also, there are non-medical uses of such as acute angles in mathematics. Also, acute can mean wise or insightful, such as an acute observation. Lastly, when spoken “acute” sounds like you are saying that something is “cute.”
“Sequelae:” many people don’t know that this means “effects that come later, after some prior cause.” Even fewer people can spell it. The word sequelae is so uncommon that my internet browser keeps telling me that I am probably just misspelling the word sequel. Also, this term is redundant since sequelae are always post (sequelae can only come *after* something, never before). So, “post ___ sequelae” are effects that happen “after ___ after.”
“SARS-CoV-2:” is a medical/scientific name. But despite all of us being more than a year into the pandemic the vast majority of doctors/scientists still don’t say SARS-CoV-2 in common discussions (they say COVID-19 instead), and almost zero non-science folks use the term SARS-CoV-2.
A bad acronym: Even as an acronym, PASC doesn’t quite work. For the letter “C” they picked a letter part way through the term SARS-CoV-,2 rather than the first letter (“S“). And the letter “I” at the start of the word infection fails to be included in the acronym at all. So really it would need to be PASCI. Also, when spoken in English “PASC” is tough for listeners to understand. It sounds like passed, or past. (PASCI would be just as bad, and it would sound like “pass key.”)
Think of other examples. People became familiar with the term “Lyme disease” because this term is easy to say, spell, and remember. Having an easy phrase then allows people to learn the details of the condition. When Lyme symptoms are more long term, it is therefore simple to call it Chronic Lyme disease. But imagine if we changed the name from “Chronic Lyme disease” to “PASBD” as the acronym for post-acute sequelae Borrelia burgdorferi infection. PASBD would be a foolish and confusing change. Similarly, PASC is a foolish change.
Long COVID is now called PASC, a ridiculous name change
Normally I focus on tailbone pain, but as a medical educator I am pointing out the problems with unnecessary medical jargon. The term “Long COVID” should stay. I will pass on PASC.
This eBook on Tailbone Pain is Free on Amazon worldwide: March 1, 2021, Pacific Time.
“Tailbone Pain Relief Now! Causes and Treatments for Your Sore or Injured Coccyx” by Patrick M. Foye, M.D., Director of the Coccyx Pain Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Learn all about how to find answers and relief for your Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia.
Click on “see all formats” (as shown by the red arrow in the image below) and then choose the e-book / Kindle version, which is FREE all day. You do not need a Kindle to get this free book… you just need an Amazon account, which is free. You can download the ebook to your laptop, desktop computer, iPad, e-reader, Kindle, etc.
Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Free-Book, March 1, 2021, coccydynia, by Patrick Foye MD
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
I am thrilled that this month (February 2021) the medical journal “PM&R” published an article that I wrote. The title is: Baby Yoda: Pareidolia and Patternicity in Sacral MRI and CT Scans.
Dr. Foye’s summary: In medical education, we often teach using comparisons. This includes harnessing the human tendency to “see” faces or other patterns in various stimuli (see: Pareidolia and Patternicity). We propose using the face of “Baby Yoda” as a template when reading sacral MRI and CT scans. This “Baby Yoda sign” helps you recognize normal anatomy and also abnormal pathology.
Baby Yoda truly is within us all! 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the proper proportions:
Baby Yoda, Pareidolia and Patternicity in Sacral MRI and CT Scans, by Patrick Foye MD
This journal article was fun to write, covers solid medical educational points, and the illustrator did an awesome job.
“Baby Yoda” is the popular name for the small, cute, fictional character named Grogu (or “the child”), on the cable television series, The Mandalorian. Baby Yoda is apparently the same species as Jedi Grand Master Yoda, from the classic Star Wars movies.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s) for Tailbone Pain.
NSAIDs are medications commonly taken by mouth to decrease pain, inflammation, fever, etc.
NSAIDs may cause stomach/intestinal ulcers and associated internal gastrointestinal bleeding.
Examples of NSAIDs include traditional NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen) and newer versions (such as Celecoxib, brand name: Celebrex). All NSAIDs in the USA carry a “Black Box Warning” that they increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
In my medical practice, I consider these meds to be good for short term use. But the longer someone is on them the more likely that they will run into side-effects.
One down-side of oral NSAIDs is that medications taken by mouth essentially get distributed throughout your whole body, meaning that they can 1) cause side-effects throughout your body, and 2) their beneficial effect is “diluted out” across your whole body (so that, unfortunately, only a tiny bit of the medication actually gets delivered to your painful or inflamed coccyx).
This is one of the reasons to instead have medications placed locally just at the painful site, typically by the physician doing a small local injection under fluoroscopic guidance, specifically targeting the part of the coccyx that was abnormal on the imaging studies and also matches with the site where the patient is having their pain.
Some of these NSAIDs are available in topical versions (where the medication is placed on the skin, within a cream or lotion or ointment or patch).
Topical Patches/Ointments/Creams may help some folks, but generally have a tough time getting the medications deep enough.
Also, the coccyx is an awkward spot for these, since patches don’t stick well in the crease between the buttocks (they stick better on flatter surfaces).
Also, for privacy and hygiene reasons, folks generally need to use a bathroom, etc. if needing to re-apply the topical medications while at work. (Unlike someone using the creams on their wrist, for example, which they could easily do that right at their public work space without any fuss.)
Tailbone Pain Medications, for Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
I recently watched a video about the middle cluneal nerve as a possible cause of coccyx pain, tailbone pain, coccydynia.
I think that this is possible, but probably very uncommon.
I sometimes treat cluneal nerve pain. It is relatively common to have pain from the SUPERIOR cluneal nerve after bone is harvested from the iliac crest for a bone graft to use in a spinal fusion surgery. But the SUPERIOR cluneal nerve does not involve the coccyx.
The standard medical understanding is that cluneal nerves are mainly known as a source of buttock pain, rather than midline pain at the coccyx.
However, it is true that the MIDDLE cluneal nerve is more midline than the distribution of the SUPERIOR cluneal nerve.
See image, where MCN is the middle cluneal nerve:
Middle Cluneal Nerve is mainly NOT in the area of Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia. Source:
Image source: https://musculoskeletalkey.com/complications-of-iliac-crest-bone-graft-harvesting/ (From: Kim, K., Isu, T., Matsumoto, J. et al. Low back pain due to middle cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy. Eur Spine J27, 309–313 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-017-5208-2 )
But… even though the MIDDLE cluneal nerve is more midline than the distribution of the SUPERIOR cluneal nerve, most of MIDDLE cluneal nerve distribution is at the BUTTOCK, rather than midline at the coccyx.
The video about the middle cluneal nerve (MCN) shows only one image of nerves, and in that image it does NOT show MCN innervation of the coccyx (actually, none of the images in the video label the MCN). See screenshot from that video:
Screenshot from Video about the Middle Cluneal Nerve and Coccyx Pain
In the video, the surgeon mentions that to test for whether pain is coming from the MCN they do a local anesthetic nerve block of the MCN … AND ALSO of the coccygeal nerves. To me, it seems likely that any relief of coccyx pain from such a COMBINED block of BOTH groups of nerves would be far more likely to be relief from the block of the COCCYGEAL nerves (which definitely do carry pain sensation from the coccyx) rather than being from the cluneal nerve block (which is proportionally less likely to carry sensation from the coccyx). (Admittedly, it was short video, so perhaps he meant that they do two separate blocks on separate dates for those separate nerves?)
Some fibers from the middle cluneal nerve may innervate the SKIN that is OVER the coccyx region. But I think that for most people with coccyx pain they have a problem with the coccyx itself, rather than the SKIN that is over the coccyx.
Still, it is POSSIBLE that the middle cluneal nerve MIGHT be involved in the uncommon instances where someone presents with tailbone region pain that is: A) unusual in that is is NOT tender when the doctor presses on the bones of the coccyx, B) is associated with altered sensation of the SKIN over the coccyx region, C) the symptoms are worse mainly to one SIDE of the coccyx, rather than at the midline, and D) the patient gets relief with a local anesthetic nerve block of the MCN but does NOT get relief with a similar local anesthetic nerve block of the coccygeal nerves.
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
In recognition of the 3rd Annual“Tailbone Pain Awareness Day” which will be November 15, 2020…
This eBook is Free on Amazon worldwide: Nov. 14-15, 2020, Pacific Time.
“Tailbone Pain Relief Now! Causes and Treatments for Your Sore or Injured Coccyx” by Patrick M. Foye, M.D., Director of the Coccyx Pain Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Free Book on Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia, Nov 14-15, 2020.
Free e-Book on Tailbone Pain, Coccyx Pain, Coccydynia.
Below is a List of Amazon Links Worldwide to get the Book “Tailbone Pain Relief Now!”
The book is filled with useful information about coccyx pain (tailbone pain), including causes, tests, and treatments.
You can use the Amazon website specific to your part of the world.
Tailbone Pain Awareness Day 2020, Facebook Live on Coccyx Pain, with Patrick Foye, MD
COME FOR RELIEF: For more information on coccyx pain, or to be evaluated in-person by Dr. Foye’s Coccyx Pain Center in the United States, go to: www.TailboneDoctor.com
– Patrick Foye, M.D., Director of the Tailbone Pain Center, New Jersey, United States.
