It's just a pain in the butt!

Monday, May 30, 2011
Some things in this world just makes you go "huh?" 
There’s this woman I know, who’s been losing weight too; so far she’s lost 31 pounds.
Excellent achievement!

She looks great and I can imagine... it feels damn awesome too.
The only thing is, she’s been experiencing a terrible pain in her butt every time she sits for a long time.
Every time she gets up to go do anything, I hear “aaaaaaaiiiii CHANCHAN!!” (ouchhhhh my BUT!!).
The thing has come to the point where I think she isn’t really aware she says it anymore. (YUP, she said it in a couple of embarrassing situations already). Before she lost any weight, she never before experienced this pain.
Question is; what in the world is wrong with her butt? Is it that, after you lose years of accumulated padding around your butt, your tailbone starts letting the world know it exists? I mean, logically thinking...that could be it. Maybe the tailbone was hidden all the time behind a housing of extras and now feels so free that it has chosen to make its presence known in quite a harsh way.
But, I searched it up (duh!). And it seems to be that this woman's not the only one with this problem. Many women (and some men) worldwide seem to be living through this pain every day. Some of them went through surgery to remove their tailbone and some others use doughnut shaped pillows or tailbone pillows to relieve the pain. The internet is full of information about this uncommon phenomenon; from personal experiences, to doctors’ recommendations. It appears to be that pain in the tailbone should heal by itself with time. And it seems that permanent tailbone pain is very hard to explain. A doctor said the pain can be minimized depending on the way you sit. Leaning backward causes more pressure on the tailbone and thus more pain. Doctors too recommend a doughnut pillow, for comfort and relief. More than forums and some small, very medical articles I haven’t found much explanation for the tailbone pain after this woman’s weight loss. But I’ve found some pretty interesting facts about the tailbone itself.
Here are just 5, for your enjoyment...
·         The proper name of the tailbone is the “coccyx”, derived from the Greek word for cuckoo. Not because of the tailbone’s function, but because it looks like a cuckoo’s beak;
·         The tailbone isn’t really (completely) a bone. It is rather an appendage of skin and fat and occasionally some bone. (Well, that could explain the link between losing weight (fat) and tailbone pain). Dr John Loeser M.D. calls it a disorganized hunk of tissue on the bottom of the butt;
·         Women have (a little) more protection in the tailbone area than men. The female pelvis protects the tailbone somewhat. Plus, women have more fat on their buttocks, which protects the tailbone, says Dr. Haldeman.;
·         Even thou injury to the tailbone happens rarely (because you’d most likely land on your buttocks rather than on your tailbone), this type of injury is called “coccydynia”. Which just means “pain in the tailbone”;
·         Some people still discuss whether the tailbone is a remaining of a tail that lost its function during evolution.
So, no answer for this woman’s literal pain in the butt, yet still an inch smarter...

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