Sitting on a COUCHES can cause or worsen coccyx pain (tailbone pain, coccydynia). For many people with tailbone pain, sitting on a hard chair may be more comfortable than sitting on a soft COUCH or sofa.
Hundreds of patients with tailbone pain have told me how much they hate sitting on couches. Below, I explain why this happens.
The VIDEO is at the bottom of the page.
Here is the transcript from the video:
I’m Dr. Patrick Foye, M.D. and this is just a short explanation for why many people with tailbone pain have pain when they’re sitting specifically on couches or soft surfaces like a couch.
Many people think well, a couch is comfortable a couch is soft.
That should be easy and should be a great place for someone with tailbone pain to sit.
However very frequently the opposite is true.
This is an anatomic model showing the pelvis and at the back of the pelvis is the sacrum and right down here is the coccyx or tailbone and over here where my fingers are pointing now those are the other sit bones referred to as the ischial bones so right down at the bottom here.
And the thing is that when somebody is sitting on a hard surface what they can do is they can shift their body weight somewhat from one side to the other or they can sit leaning forward all of those things take pressure off of the tailbone at the midline.
So sitting on a hard surface might not be so bad for many people with tailbone pain however if we use this soft surface here to simulate sitting on a couch.
You can see that when you sit on a couch you sink down into it and part of that soft couch surface is not so soft now when it’s hitting the tailbone if you have somebody with tailbone pain.
So you can see how in that situation for many people sitting on a hard surface might actually be better for their tailbone pain than sitting on a soft surface where they can’t get sort of the relief by putting the pressure onto some of the other areas.
So we see this very very commonly.
I’m the Director and Founder of the Coccyx Pain Center (or Tailbone Pain Center) here in the United States.
You can find more information online at www.TailboneDoctor.com or you can grab a copy of my book on tailbone pain all about causes and treatments and all of that.
I hope that’s a helpful explanation for you about tailbone pain while sitting on couches.
Here is the VIDEO:
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.
Here is the screen-capture from the video:
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