When you find that your tailbone is painful, if you can’t sit down, bend and sometimes walk, you’re in a dilemma. Some think that they accidentally bruised their tailbone, or else pulled a muscle. They just keep feeling a keenness or tenderness on their tailbone and swelling, and perhaps even feel it for longer than they should. While problems with the tailbone generally exist, how a painful tailbone lump begins varies across the map–they range from inflammation to cysts and structural breakdown. Finding out what’s going on underneath the skin is the first step toward seeking relief and, if necessary, treatments.

The tailbone, also known as coccyx, lies at the base of the spine and provides support to numerous neighboring muscle groups, ligaments, and weight-bearing structures. If it gets irritated a little, like with sitting, then this area is a little and is always under pressure, causing the major discomfort to be required to adjust your movement or posture accordingly. If swelling, tissue accumulation, or growth is abnormal, the area may feel bruised, sore, or tender to the touch. So that kind of sensitivity often leads the individual to look for the source of their tailbone pain causes, especially when those less painful moves on the go bring unanticipated injury to the patient. Inflammation: the commonest cause of tailbone pain Inflammation is one of the primary culprits for the pain. Long hours of sitting, falling onto a hard surface, repeated effort and delivery of babies and poor posture can all rub the tissues near the coccyx. As these tissues swell and get saturated and overworked, pressure mounts and the area becomes sensitive to contact and movement.

Pain can ripple across into the buttocks or lower back, or remain painfully focused at the apex of the spine. And while inflammation has a way of resolving itself with rest and some shift in ergonomics, more continuous swelling may indicate some other issues, such as an infection, nerve irritation or a nascent growth below or just above the coccyx.

There are plenty of causes for a lump near tailbone. In some cases, it is produced by a localized infection below the skin or in a hair follicle. At other times the lump may be an abscess extending under the skin. Because this area is dense with tissue and space-poor, even a small but significant mass can feel larger and more painful than expected. The lump can come on slowly or suddenly. The texture can be soft and liquid, firm, and unable to budge. If the lump is warm red, or draining fluid, infection or some other medical condition may cause the lump in the body.

Of all the features of tailbone lumps, pilonidal disease appears to be one that is still pretty much neglected. A cyst on tailbone usually develops when hairs, detritus and bacteria get trapped deeper beneath the skin, causing inflammation and infection. The cyst expands, growing more and more painful, especially when you are sitting. People have recurrent flare-ups, where the lump swells, drains and comes back again. Others have a pit or small hole in the skin that doesn’t go anywhere but never leaves and it lasts a long time.

Pilonidal cysts frequently turn very infected and may demand medical assistance such as drainage and/or minor surgery to fully resolve themselves. How trauma may cause tailbone pain and inflammation. A direct fall or impact to the coccyx can bruise or even fracture the tailbone and provide swelling or a “feeling” of a bump. Though bruises usually heal over time, a more serious wound to the tailbone can cause long-lasting tenderness and the sensation of a lump.

Occasionally the bone will heal improperly with a side that becomes irritated when seated. Trauma may also inflame soft tissues nearby resulting in thickening or scar-like changes that look like a small mass. These injuries can often be confused for infections or cysts when in reality they are a musculoskeletal issue.

Pressure and postural adjustment issues, resulting in pain of tailbone. The coccyx and its associated tissues, if sitting on hard and uneven surfaces for any length of time, can become strained. It can also look like swelling that eventually occurs as a small lump or sore spot. Bad posture, especially slouching or leaning backward, increase the amount of stress on your tailbone and may even result in more pain. Symptoms are often worse with cycling and sedentary work. While these conditions usually do not present with cysts or infections, swelling can appear as a lump around the tailbone, complicating the guesswork of finding a genuine cause of discomfort.

Infections under the skin can form abscesses, which are painful, warm and swollen masses around the coccyx. Infections can develop with ingrown hairs, blocked glands and small openings in the skin. In infections in contrast to simple inflammation, which can slow or improve, the signs and symptoms may allow the infection to spread and to spill pus or fluid. The skin atop the lump can turn red and tight, and the pressure may cause sharp pain. With infections passed untreated, it can have a broader-ranging impact on the body or lead to systemic complaints such as fever and fatigue, making early detection crucial. Skin conditions that can cause lumps for the tailbone. Skin bumps around the tailbone can appear in some cutaneous conditions.

These may be lipomas, sebaceous cysts or benign growths. Lipomas are soft, fatty structures that build up slowly and usually do very little damage in the body unless they encroach on sensitive structures. Conversely, sebaceous cysts may inflame or attack, especially in the tailbone which is situated in a high-friction area. A lot of the lumps are harmless, but to determine whether they require treatment, we need to isolate them from more serious problems.

General practitioners diagnose in tailbone swelling/pain when a patient presents to visiting clinical staff for tailbone swelling/pain and such a diagnosis is made through the normal physical examination provided by the clinical team. When a patient’s not well, he or she records a detailed history of symptoms. They look at how long the pain has lingered, how much the size of the lump has changed from the last time, whether it’s accompanied by redness, warmth or drainage. And imaging studies, such as ultrasound or MRI, may be ordered for deeper structures requiring investigation. One important thing is whether you diagnose causes of tailbone pain correctly, as the treatment of that pain differs greatly based on whether the issue is inflammatory, infectious, structural or part of a cystic process.

Tailbone pain should always be considered, but chronic or worsening tailbone symptoms should always be evaluated, especially if their pain is so severe that it interferes with a person’s ability to sit up straight, bend down, or perform those simple activities. Getting to the doctor is essential if it becomes hot, red or draining.This may indicate an infection. If in any instances your tailbone has a cyst growing on its surface, or there is a mass enlargement, drainage therapy (including antibiotics) is necessary. These types of early management prevent complications and reduce recovery time. Even lumps created from posture or trauma could be treated by an expert, who can modify a person’s body in ergonomic ways, provide physical therapy or recommend specific pain-relief methods.

painful tailbone lump

A lump near the tailbone can be pretty unpleasant, but few people require monitoring it themselves. Whether your symptoms stem from inflammation or trauma, infection or cystic, knowing what caused the symptoms is critical if you’re going to receive the correct treatment. With the right diagnosis, virtually every patient will feel far better and come back with a clear road ahead. Understanding why you have a lump, what’s provoked discomfort, and how to correct it makes healing much easier.