Also called: Coccyx disorders
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Tailbone Disorders
The tailbone is the small bone at the bottom of your backbone, or spine. Tailbone disorders include tailbone injuries, pain, infections, cysts and tumors. You rarely break your tailbone. Instead, most injuries cause bruises or pulled ligaments. A backward fall onto a hard surface, such as slipping on ice, is the most common cause of such injuries. Symptoms of various tailbone disorders include pain in the tailbone area, pain upon sitting, pain or numbness in the arms or legs due to pressure on nerves in the tailbone area, and a mass or growth you can see or feel.
It sits within Bones, Joints and Muscles.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Tailbone Disorders
16 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscles Down Training on Postpartum CoccydyniaCairo University
- Analgesic Efficacy of Capsaicin 8% Patch (QUTENZA®) in CoccygodygniaNantes University Hospital
- Study Evaluating the Analgesic Efficacy of Capsaicin 8% Patches in Chronic Coccygodynia.Nantes University Hospital
- Ganglion Impar Block With Physical Therapy vs Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection With PT for Patients With CoccydyniaSuperior University
Research already completed
- Validation of the Paris (Functional Coccydynia Effect) Pain QuestionnaireFatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital
- The Effect of USG-Guided Coccygeal Nerve Block on Sacrococcygeal And/or Intercoccygeal Joint Injection for CoccydyniaFatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital
- Effect of Manipulation on CoccydyniaKTO Karatay University
- Radial and Focused ESWT in the Treatment of Coccydynia According to Age and Body Mass IndexYuzuncu Yil University
- Comparing the Treatment Outcomes of Two Interventional Pain Procedures in Chronic CoccygodyniaMarmara University
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Tailbone Pain: How Can I Relieve It?Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Diagnosis and Tests
- Bone X-RayRadiological Society of North America
- CT Scan of the SpineRadiological Society of North America
- Spine MRIRadiological Society of North America
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Pilonidal SinusNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Coccyx, Spinal Diseases. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Tailbone Disorders, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.