Cured my tailbone & "hoo-ha" pain ! :)

[SusanK]

Hello Ladies,

I'm a long time lurker, infrequent poster. I'm a 100% indoor cyclist w/ my 20 year old Trek 950 on a Cyclops Fluid Trainer. For years I have suffered through excruciating tailbone and, ahem, "hoo-ha" pain. Often, 15 minutes on the bike was all I could tolerate. It even got to the point of causing an aquired pilonidal cyst on my tailbone, which I will likely need to have excised (I have a surgical consult scheduled for this Friday).

I had given up cycling a few months ago due to the pain it was causing me (the bike had been re-fitted and I'd tried numerous saddles), the pilonidal cyst was flaring up badly over the summer. I decided to walk and do yoga instead. I've never taken an actual yoga class, but learned about the poses from reading "Journey into Power" and "40 Days to Personal Revolution" by Baron Baptiste.

In a matter of six weeks, I was back on the bike ! I discovered that tight hamstrings (REALLY tight hamstrings) and weak lower back muscles were causing me to sit on my tailbone rather than my sit bones... whether it was on the bike or in a chair. I never realized that I was sitting incorrectly (for 30+ years) until began to sit correctly. Now I can put in 30 minutes on the bike w/ an ease that I never knew was possible, as well as making me more comfortable at my desk job.

Prior to posting this, I read others' posts about taking yoga classes so, I'm sure this isn't big news to everyone, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway. I read that some posters didn't enjoy their yoga classes due to the instructor. This is why I've enjoyed the Baptiste books... he doesn't demand "perfect" alignment, but rather encourages the yogi to find the alignment that's correct for their own body (this is talked about in "Journey into Power"). The standing poses have done wonders for my lower back strength, and the forward bends have allowed me to go from struggling to touch my toes to being able to put my palms on the floor in a standing forward bend, and my wrists on my toes in a seated forward bend, thus loosening my hamstrings.

I'm am back on the bike w/ a new found confidence, losing a bit of weight and gaining a lot of stamina ! I just wanted to encourage other riders who may be experiencing the same tailbone and soft tissue pain to give yoga a try.

Best to you all,
SusanK

[mimitabby]

thanks for the good news! we hear about a lot of folks' problems but rarely their solutions!

[KnottedYet]

Hooray! A success story! Good job.

[Running Mommy]

Hmmm cool... Never thought about that. I've dabbled in pilates, but I need to get serious with either yoga or pilates. I'm tight as an over stretched rubber band, and I know it's just a matter of time before something goes "POP"..

[rij73]

That's really interesting, and I'll have to think about it. I often have tailbone pain after sitting on a hard chair.

I can empathize over the pilonidal cyst. I had one in high school. They drained it and cured the infection, and then I had the surgery to remove it and some surrounding tissue. The whole ordeal was very not fun. I was so nervous when I started biking that I'd have problems again, but thank goodness I've managed to keep my weight on the sit bones.

[equus123]

i just had a pylonidal cyst surgically removed 2 yrs ago though i had it for about 3 yrs in all. it was a very annoying procedure more than anything and thankfully my job was nice enough to let me work from home either laying on my stomach with a laptop or standing at a tall desk (because you can't sit down for a while afterwards!). but i'm glad it was removed after dealing with it flaring up every month or sooner, getting infected, etc. good luck if you have surgery on yours!

ps - i named mine "Little Butt" or "Charles".

[SusanK]

Thanks Ladies,

It seems the more I work on strenthening the muscles in my lower back, the more my posture improves and the longer I am able to sit up straight. As soon as I start to slouch (which I've done for the past 30+ years) my tailbone touches the surface I'm sitting on.

I can't say whether the cyst was hereditary or acquired, "butt" I'm sure the cycling has aggrevated it. I avoided the nasty cyst details in my initial post b/c I was uncertain if anyone else here had dealt w/ one and I didn't want to offend. Now that I know others have had a similar experience, I'll elaborate a bit.

I've experienced something like a paper cut down the midline of the natal cleft (to be politically correct) off and on since high school (I'm 37). I always thought it was due to a spinal misalignment b/c my hometown chiropractor would do a low back adjustment and it would heal w/in 24 hours. When I gave up the cycling last spring, I'd been dealing w/ the same symptom for well over two years ! Whenever water from the shower would run down my back, the cut would burn no differently than a razor cut from shaving my legs.

Shortly thereafter, it began to drain clear fluid and occasionally blood, nearly every day.... for THREE months ! My commute to work is only 20 minutes, but sitting in the car (and driving a stick shift) was almost intolerable. Whenever I would twist at the waist to get out of my car, the midline skin would split (I could feel it) ! It seemed to hurt all the time... sitting down, lying down, etc. I finally decided that the embarassment in a doctors office was worth the possibility of getting this taken care of. Called my primary doc. and her first available appt. was three weeks out. By the time the appt. date arrived, the area was nearly healed up. I seriously thought about canceling the appt. and then reminded myself of all the pain I'd been in throughout the summer.

Primary doc. did x-rays, looked at the area, and agreed that it's likely a cyst, even though it looks good now. She set the appt. for a surgical consult before I left her office. And... she was amazed that I'd put up w/ the pain for over two years. What can I say...? I'm stubborn.

So, tomorrow's the surgical consult. Hopefully, that doctor will be able to do something about it. I'd rather not wait until it flares up again. I've read on a pilonidal cyst message board that some people have had to have their tailbone removed b/c they let the cyst go un-excised for years. Eeeek.... that could be me. I shouldn't have any difficulty getting the necessary time off work. I've been at the same job for eight years and have over 400 hours of sick time built up. I'm thinking about naming my cyst after one of my more irritating coworkers. lol

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll be sure to let you know what I find out.

SusanK

p.s. ~ I put in another 20 minutes on the bike tonight w/ little to no pain.

[rij73]

eek! Why'd you go so long before taking care of it? When I had it, the pain was really unbearable. It was in my senior year of high school. I used to sit half the day at the computer (slouching I'm sure) on a very hard chair. One night, getting up from the chair I felt the pain. It was really bad... I told my mom, off to the doc we went, then off to a surgeon, then got scheduled for surgery. They said it'd be best to go ahead and remove the whole area surgically to reduce the chances of it coming back.

I can't imagine just suffering with that for years on and off... Hope your surgery doesn't wind up being more major. But, take solace that I had a lot of tissue removed from the area, and it isn't noticeable, plus biking is no problem...

Good luck!

[AgilityAddict]

I am very intrigued by your wonderful results! I have had a series of injuries in the last several years that really interfere with my efforts to work out!! I am wondering if this could help me - I've been told by a massage therapist that "all my problems are in my lower back" I checked amazon for Journey into Power and got a slew of results. Which one of these did you use?

Thanks!

[SusanK]

Just back from my surgical consult. Just like taking my car to a mechanic for an annoying squeak, when the mechanic drives it, the squeak disappears. Well, in the three weeks it took to get an appt. w/ my primary doc., plus the one week to get the surgical consult.... story of my life, the surgeon couldn't find any cyst and/or pits. He said the symptoms sound like a cyst, but he couldn't see anything. So, he's going to schedule an MRI and call me on Monday w/ the date and time. If it doesn't show up on the MRI, he's going to treat it as a skin disorder (anti-biotics, anti-fungal cream, etc.).

Before he left, I asked, "If this thing flares back up three months from now, can I get an appt. within a few days for you to look at it again... since I am now a 'regular customer'.... or would it still take several weeks to get in?" He said, yes, if it flares up again, to call and he'll see me the same week b/c they need to see it when it's "active". Wonderful.... d-mn it.

As w/ previous medical issues, I won't be surprised if, once again, I end up finding myself on a snipe hunt. This is why I often tolerate pain rather than go to a doctor... symptoms seem to disappear when the appt. arrives, and re-appear a week later. I got tired of feeling as though I was throwing away money. Very frustrating.



rij73 ~

I waited so long b/c... I was embarrassed to talk to anyone about it. Silly, I know, but it's true. I just tolerated the pain through the summer. Used ice packs before bed and took a lot of Advil.


AgilityAdict ~

I have a couple of yoga dvd's that I followed along w/, but after reading the books, I realized that I'd just been going through the motions. Specific poses require that you flex specific muscles, and that made all the difference in the world. The dvd's gave no directions, so I was doing "passive" poses and getting no results.

Here are a couple of amazon links...

Journey Into Power - Was the first book I found and read cover to cover. It breaks poses down into different groupings, which is helpful if you only have 10-20 minutes available. You can pick which group you'd like to do.
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Into-P...1616905&sr=1-2

40 Days to Personal Revolution - Was the second book. This one takes a slightly different approach, but it has pictures in the back in the order of which to do the poses. I liked that I didn't have to stop in the middle of a pose to turn a page.

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Into-P...1616905&sr=1-2

[elk]

I love it when we find our own solutions...yours sounds great and I'm going to have a look at those sources you mention.

It reminds me that I read somewhere...maybe even here...that Lance Armstrong would spend 2 hours a day just stretching....

[SusanK]

I love it when we find our own solutions...yours sounds great and I'm going to have a look at those sources you mention.

It reminds me that I read somewhere...maybe even here...that Lance Armstrong would spend 2 hours a day just stretching....

Hi ~ The yoga has made a difference in several areas, not just my tailbone issues. My quality of sleep has improved dramatically. I feel more rested on the same number of hours (sometimes less hours) of sleep. My PMS symptoms have improved (it's been noted that yoga can improve hormonal balance, I didn't believe that at first, but now I'm starting to wonder). Those are just two off the top of my head, I'm sure there are others. I try to get in at least 10 minutes of yoga a day, an hour if I'm lucky. It all depends on the day's schedule, but even 10-15 minutes has benefited me.

susank

[AgilityAddict]

SusanK

thanks for the links - I'm definatley going to go there! I've been doing the same yoga videos for a LONG time now so maybe the books will help me improve

AgilityAddict