Oh my aching tailbone!

[blindwsci]

I am new to the forum and need some advice. I have been cycling for 3 years now. This year I am training to ride in the MS150, which is a 170 mile, 2-day ride from Houston to Austin. This past weekend I rode a 70 mile ride and a 40 mile ride to prepare my body for riding two days in a row. I was sore in the usual places, however, I am also extremely sore on my tail bone. Since I that part doesn't touch the seat, I am curious if anyone has had this problem and if so, what they did to alleviate it. It is quite painful and uncomfortable. Any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated!

[KnottedYet]

first thought: saddle too narrow or saddle too padded.


Lots of tendons and ligaments of the pelvic floor neighborhood attach at or near the tailbone. Does it hurt worse when you lift your buns OFF the saddle?

[blindwsci]

Nope... I actually don't feel it when I am riding. It isn't until afterward that I noticed it even hurt. Are there exercises that I can do to strengthen the ligaments or is this something that will improve as I ride more?

[blindwsci]

I have an ergonomic saddle designed specifically for women. I was hoping to avoid problems like this when purchasing the saddle...

[KnottedYet]

Nope... I actually don't feel it when I am riding. It isn't until afterward that I noticed it even hurt. Are there exercises that I can do to strengthen the ligaments or is this something that will improve as I ride more?

No, they don't strengthen like muscles would. You are stressing the ligaments and stuff. Something is pushing on them, and they are yanking on the tailbone. (unless the padding is giving as you settle into the saddle and the over-padding is actually pushing on the tailbone itself or is so thick that it does stress the connective tissue.)

I'm guessing it's ligament/tendon irritation at the tailbone, more than a padding problem, cuz you say it didn't hurt on the saddle but did later when you were off the saddle.

I could be completely wrong.

My suggestion would be to go to the favorite saddles and most hated saddles sections and read up on all the fun and creative ways of measuring your "sit bones." Then measure the part of the saddle where you feel you are putting most of your weight. If the saddle isn't a couple cm wider than your bones (and flat) at that point, maybe start looking for a wider saddle to test.

Honestly, a well fitting saddle should be no more uncomfortable to your tush than a wooden church pew.

Edit: oh, hey, I didn't even ask what saddle do you have?

[Nokomis]

I've experienced significant tail bone pain on saddles that are too narrow for me. This is usually also combined with some degree of numbing toes or loss of bloodflow to the sensitive bits.

My theory is that a too narrow saddle causes your body to be suspended by soft tissue over the saddle - and that soft tissue is pulled taut across the tailbone. On shorter rides this might not be noticable - but once you exceed a certain amount of time on the saddle, it can result in a bruise that is noticable for days after, especially when sitting.

My reccomendation is to make sure it's your sit bones being supported on the saddle - and there are tons of posts around here on how to do that. If they are, then all of the above can be ignored

I hope you heal quickly - if you need to do your ride on this seat, get out of the saddle frequently to help keep blood flowing thru that area.

[tulip]

how's your core strength? If you are not holding your body properly because of core weakness, you could be putting stress on your tailbone.

I could be completely wrong, too. It's just that I have found that strengthening my core has helped a myriad of aches go away.

[koala]

That looks like a pretty wide saddle, so I have trouble believing it to be too narrow. If it is too soft, on a long ride the padding will squish down & you are sitting on the shell.

Is it truly pain on the tailbone? It hurts on the end of the bony protrusion way in the back of the butt?

My guess, and this is a guess, is that your tailbone is coming in contact with the hard plastic shell underneath the padding & you are getting bruised, which hurts like hell & takes a while to heal. My suggestion would be to get a saddle that has an opening, of some sort, in the very back. You will see some saddles have a v-shaped notch back there -- that's what it is for. I have had this exact same problem on a saddle that did not have any relief area in the back. It went away when I changed saddles to a style with an opening in the back.