Parking Stones

Tailbone problems plague people – and massage therapists. The worst is the sideways curl, keeping hips, feet, lumbar vertebrae and cervical vertebrae all a-twist.

This massage therapist finds a lot of trouble in tailbones. They are really supposed to flex a bit when sitting, guide and balance while walking or running. Too may of my clients have stuckee tailbones, drifting off and away and leaving clients with everything from migraines to crabby personalities?

         

Oh my, I had a good one the other day. The rest of this client’s spine has been a challenge of momentous proportions. I have chased every symptom up and down the row and always been perplexed by this tailbone. It dips out and in. This tailbone defies gentle suggestion, firm guidance and repeated nudging.

         

It has been a full-court offense for this client. Weekly massages and regular adjustments, acupuncture and daily yoga. She has had coccyx cushions, ice packs, warm packs, you name it.

Funny thing happened the other day.

         

The client was doing the breathy hatha yoga, trying to open the diaphragm and get the energy moving. In the middle of the pose, her tailbone adjusted itself with a “POP!”

         

“It was really loud,” she said. “I didn’t move for a few minutes. I wasn’t sure what happened.”

         

Well the pop heard round the block didn’t hurt, and now she is walking a lot better. My turn to ask: Do you remember hurting the tailbone?

         

Well she did, and funny thing was, she didn’t remember it until she popped. She was in a parking lot, age 12, and had tripped backwards over a parking stone and landed squarely on her tailbone. She saw stars and couldn’t move. The area hurt for a really long time and she never had it looked at because she was embarrassed.

         

Somehow that tailbone wasn’t broken, but it had been in a bad way for a very long time. And probably it was annoying the heck out of her spine every time she sat down.

         

“I think that pop was a good sign,” I told her.