SWH Added How Long Is Too Long?

Just to bring a little levity here... am I the only one that found it funny that you are from "Kiester"?
I hope you find some relief. :)

I always said exercise is bad for you but no one ever believes me. Now here's proof. Hope you feel better.

I'm a college educated person who sees a doctor for persistent pain. .

If it's coccyx (think that's what it's called) it can take a while.

My sister bruised hers in childbirth. She experienced what I think you're describing. It did finally go away, and there was no swelling or visible bruise. I think they told her it could take a month but it seemed to last quite a bit longer - but like you, really only noticed mostly if sitting for long periods of time. She did the pain meds and she had a donut to sit on.

Another sister of mine hurt hers not that long ago - and she had to sit a certain way. I think she fell on hers in exercise class. I just remember visiting her house, and she had to sit leaning forward - she had this cushion - not a donut, but the cushion made her tilt forward. She had seen a physiotherapist. It was bruised (not fractured). But I remember her saying if you sit right on your bum cheeks then leave forward a tiny bit, she could sit without pain. This cushion kept her in the right position. She now sits like that all the time because it improved her posture she found.

My sister had to take a break from exercise classes - because apparently she kept straining it. And she didn't realize. It did heal - but she had gone in because it seemed to take a long time.

Well I'm a college educated person too, and I know if I had pain that lasted for over a month with no obvious injury I would at least pick up the phone and speak with my doctor's nurse/advice line.

I'm just as stubborn (and educated) as you and thought I could wait out some persistent foot pain. It had gone on for months. I thought I strained it using an elliptical machine, which was probably right, but it just never got better. I finally broke down and saw a doctor, learning I had plantar fasciitis. I had to stop exercising for six weeks (as in, even minimize walking), do all sorts of foot exercises and try other strategies. Thank goodness I went in, because otherwise I would have been re-aggravating things just by taking our dog for a walk every day (had to hire a neighbor kid to do that). I could have made it a lot worse. I worry the same could happen to you.

At this point, given that it's been constant, it's highly unlikely that it was related to the spin class.
That said, you may have muscles pulling on your coccyx, or pressing on nerves around there. That can happen just as result of postural challenges and daily life. Either way, I'd see a chiropractor, personally.
Unless you have reason to believe that you might have a more serious medical issue that's causing this, it's likely just muscles being too tight unbalanced, and a simple adjustment would help.

As we get older, stretching seems to get more and more important. I've known so many cases of people thinking there was something really wrong and stretching fixed it all. My husband was convinced he had a hernia. Nope, he just needed to stretch. My mother thought she was going to need a new knee it'd gotten so bad. Someone showed her how to stretch it and it's totally fine now for years. So maybe try some gentle stretching. If you weren't used to doing the bike that long and did it hard, it's possible something tightened up too much in reaction.

Well it's not like they can put your butt in a sling.
So I get why going to a doctor would turn you off.
Even a bruised tailbone can be a major pain - but there's no cast or anything for it.
Still, if this persists for a long time - like several more months - a doctor might be able to give you some answers the rest of us would never be able to tell you about.
In the mean time, the ideal exercise for you might be swimming for awhile.

That sounds a bit long to me. If I have something nagging like that that doesn't clear up in a couple of weeks, I'll go see my chiropractor (actually now I go in a week because I know that I can get pain relief fast so it's worth stopping life and carving out the time to go). Chiro is great for being able to perhaps give a small adjustment that provides relief - you know you didn't break your tailbone or anything so it must just be some kind of strain or misalignment. I, too, wouldn't go to my primary care for this at first because all she would do is order an x-ray (which wouldn't show anything) or tell me to ice it or sit on a doughnut, or take pain relievers. Hope you feel better soon!

Having pain like that for over month seems long. These types of pain usually go away within a week or so, a few weeks at most.

ooohhh ouch...sounds like you broke your tail bone. There's NOTHING a doctor can do for you. You can purchase one of those fanny pillows with the cut out for your tail bone - one for the car and one for your home/office.

Tylenol or motrin. Otherwise? There is nothing that can be done. It took me about six weeks to heal when I broke mine. That was a year ago and there are times it's still tender. it sucks. I'm sorry!!!

after a month of pain it is generally recommended that you see a dr to make sure that the injury is healing properly, if its a bruised taiolbone it could take a while 6+ weeks
however i have had random pains that come and go and its been happening for about 2 years and i have yet ot see a dr about it. (i am the last person to visit a dr and only do it when i deem that its necessary to avoid the ER)

Oh, those exercise classes that feel good at the time, and then tell you 10-15 hours later that you were using all new muscles!

I would use ice, and continue anti-inflammatories. Just because you can't see the inflammation doesn't mean it's not there. You can continue to use OTC things like Advil if you don't have side effects and if you stay below the maximum level, or the new natural anti-inflammatory that has no side effects.

Tailbones are tough - you can't really take the pressure off it, given the need to sit, stand and walk. I don't think it's surprising at all that it has taken this long. If you can rest it, I'd consider lying down on the floor or a yoga mat, perhaps with ice underneath (try the flexible ice packs like "Peas" available at most large drug stores). Get two, and keep one in the freezer while you use the other. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off, with your knees bent and the small of your back flat against the ground.

I agree with you that you can decide whether or not to be seen, but if you want to, you might also consider a sports medicine professional or a chiropractor. My husband had some exercise related injuries and did better with an osteopath who specializes in sports medicine than he did with the regular internist. The internist can't really do anything except send you for an X-ray, but since you didn't fall, it's unlikely that there is anything that will show up. Sometimes a sports/exercise specialist can recommend the right type of exercises or send you to PT - what you don't want to do is re-injure it. But that's hard when you're sitting down, carrying groceries, pushing a vacuum, getting out of bed, or even bending over to brush your teeth.

I injured my tailbone and it took about 2 months to heal. Luckily it happen during the summer and I was able to spend a lot of time in a pool. I really believe that helped the healing. Also, I probably wouldn't go to the doctor either...I don't think there is anything they can do to speed up healing of a tailbone.

Having said that I injured my foot. I walked around with pain for about 2 months before going to the doctor. Turns out I broke my foot. I was then on crutches and a boot for 6 weeks.

I fell on my butt roller skating years ago, and I think I bruised my tailbone. That thing took months to heal! To this day if I sit too lng in certain positions I can irritate it a bit, but now it's not a big deal.

Can't hurt to see a doctor and ask.

Have you thought about sitting on a donut? I'd try that if I were you.

When I was in 7th grade, I fell on the footboard of a bed. It wouldn't stop hurting, and I complained to my parents. My dad threatened to take me to the doctor if I didn't quit grousing, and I said "Yes, please take me." (That's when he knew I was actually serious about it.) The xray showed that it was pushed in at a 45 degree angle into the nerves - no wonder I was in misery. The doctor was absolutely worthless - he told me and my dad that I'd have to either have it removed, or take aspirin for the pain for the rest of my life. Instead, Dad took me to a chiropractor. The adjustments did nothing. When Dad told him he would go find someone else to help me, the chiro actually went in with a gloved finger and popped my coccyx back up where it was supposed to be. Painful, but very effective. And he told me to sit on a split cushion that my dad had made. I sat on it for 6 long months. I haven't had any trouble with my tailbone since.

I do think that an xray of your tailbone would be a smart thing to get. At least you would know for sure that it's not cracked or dangling. You'd know what you were dealing with, or maybe better, know what you're NOT dealing with.

Perhaps after you know what's what, (if you're willing to do that), your chiro could be more helpful. Really though, try the donut. It's embarrassing because you are afraid people will think you have a hemorrhoid, but you can tell them when they look at it that you hurt your tailbone, laugh, and then they'll laugh with you. I wish I could have done that as a 7th grader. Young girls are embarrassed about anything that makes them different!

What the doctor would want to "see" is what you can't see -- your tailbone, in an X-ray. If I were in that level of pain for as long as you have been, I'd want to see a doctor to be sure I wasn't exacerbating a bruise or even a cracked bone. There might be things you can do (or stop doing) to help you heal faster and to prevent further damage.

I nearly didn't go to the doctor about an ache in my arm -- it seemed so minor. But I did go and found out I had an infection in that arm that didn't show on the outside but required treatment immediately. So I err on the side of caution and would do the same if I were experiencing your symptoms. Your problem may just be bruising about which the doctor can do little, but wouldn't you rather be sure, and rule out anything more?

Can your significant other rub Tiger Balm on it for you?

And while others are offended at your 'college educated' remark, I so get where you are coming from.

It truly sounds like you pinched or hurt a nerve in your tailbone area while you were sitting on that bike in one position for too long.

Get a donut to sit on, use pillows if you don't want to buy one, do not sit on hard surfaces, don't sit in one position too long and be sure to get up and move around to get the blood moving in that area often.

No one can understand just how painful and annoying and uncomfortable this sort of pain is until they go through it.

Unfortunately I am still feeling my pain a year later. If I recline more in my office chair and use the donut and switch it up a lot I can have less pain but just one time in a hard folding chair and I'm back doing the pain management.

Since it's nerves and not muscles heat might make it worse. Heat brings blood to the area and the cells in that area plump up, expand, to use the blood better and heal the injury BUT ice calms down cranky nerve endings.

Flexeril or Lyrica would help a lot to heal the nerve endings. Ice, not too long though, can make all that pain feel much better.