Sacrococcygeal: Lowest part of your spine
Steroid: Strong anti-inflammatory
Frequency: This is typically repeated in 2 weeks if you have gained some relief from the initial procedure.
Anesthetic: Local
Indications:
Tailbone pain aka as coccygodynia is a relatively common cause of buttock pain isolated to the tip of the tailbone. Often times, there is a history of trauma or even fracture to the area or a fall where someone lands directly on their buttock region. The ligament in this area is stretched and can be a source of your pain. This injection is used to treat the inflammation around the tailbone, specifically the ligament. This condition is typically not fixed by surgery.
Contraindications/Reasons why you may not have your injection today:
- Bleeding disorders/low platelet counts
- Medications that thin your blood (please review this section)
- Current infection
- No driver
- Your symptoms have changed and/or improved
- Patient refusal
- Procedure not approved by your insurance
- Poorly controlled high blood pressure that may be giving you symptoms
- Poorly controlled diabetes
- Certain types of glaucoma
- Poorly controlled bipolar disorder
- Allergies to the any of the medications that is being used
Potential side effects/risks of the procedure:
- Increased pain
- Infection
- Bleeding
- Allergic reaction to medications used to clean your skin and/or medications injected
- Cramping in lower extremities
- Mood changes
- Flushed face/extremities
- Worsening of high blood pressure causing headaches
- Increasing of blood sugars if you have diabetes
- Water retention
- Chronic steroids can cause weight gain
- Seizures
- Stroke
- Nerve and/or spinal cord injury
Procedure:
During the procedure, you will be lying on your stomach. An x-ray machine is used to locate your tailbone. After your skin is cleaned with an antiseptic solution, normally betadine unless you are allergic, a series of x-rays will be taken to guide the needle placement. The skin is localized with a local anesthetic which is typically the most painful part of the procedure as this medicine has a tendency to burn when it is injected. After this point, you should only feel pressure. If anything is too painful for you, please tell your physician, as more numbing medicine can be given at any time. When the needle enters into the ligament, a mixture of local anesthetic and steroid is slowly injected. You may experience increased pressure/pain in your buttocks region which is normal. However, if at any time the pain is too intense, please tell your physician to slow down your injection. After the medication is injected, the needle is removed and the procedure is completed.
Typical length of the procedure:
5 minutes. Expect to be at the clinic no more than 15 minutes after you have been checked in by the medical assistant into the preoperative area. If this is your first time at our clinic, you will likely be at the clinic for at least one hour. Please plan accordingly.
How long do you expect pain relief:
It is difficult to determine how long and how much pain relief you may experience. It varies depending on multiple factors. Some patients do not gain any relief from the procedure and some may have permanent pain relief. If you experience relief right after this procedure, this can be diagnostic that your pain is coming from the specific joint(s) that were injected today.
