How do I stop my tailbone hurting so much?

Maybe you fell real, real hard on your ass. Maybe you just delivered a baby. Either way, you’re stuck with a persistent pain in your tailbone and it’s just the worst. Sure, you can use a donut to get through the day, but you need to live your life eventually. That’s where pelvic physiotherapy comes in.

When you experience persistent tailbone pain, it’s often the result of your tailbone being traumatically moved into a new position, causing your pelvic floor to feel tight and tense. One of the ways to treat this is a 10-15 minute procedure called “an internal rectal treatment.” It’s exactly how it sounds: With you lying on your side, a physiotherapist inserts a (gloved!) finger into your rectum. This allows your physio to touch your tailbone internally while applying external pressure, moving the tailbone into a position that’s comfortable for you. Yes, it’s a bit awkward, but you’ll leave feeling so much better. It can also be helpful to do some pelvic floor release through the vagina, since those muscles really tense up when your tailbone is out of whack.

Because life’s too short to carry a donut around everywhere, right?