Older barnmate fell (wasnt launched) oh about 1 year ago. It may have broken no one knew for sure. But BM cant mount from the ground (horse is 15h+) at all. Seat isnt quite as sure as before. Dismounting is slower than before.
NHR a coworker skied down the stairs also. 5-6 Months later coworker sometimes sits on her knees to do computer work–chair hurts to much.
In other words it sucks. Hope you feel better.
I bruised my tailbone getting bucked off a horse when I was 14, it took me about a month to get back in the saddle and about 4 months to feel completely back to normal. Then, I broke it in two places when I was 21. That was far, far more painful…I took about four months off of riding (luckily it coincided with my final semester of college so I was too busy to really miss the stable). When I came back I found riding wasn’t so bad pain wise, since I spent most of the time in a lighter seat, but sitting on a chair was painful for almost a year and it was pure hell trying to sit through classes.
Sadly, I know more about this topic than I care to…
I’ve “broken” mine twice (both delivering my healthy 8 lb bouncing baby boys). Yes ladies… this really does happen. And not just to me.
I put broken in quotes because most broken tailbones are actually dislocations… not breaks in the traditional sense. But the medical profession calls them a “broken” tailbone. The tailbone is actually several mostly-fused vertabrae at the bottom of your spine. They shouldn’t move, but there is still cartiledge between the bones, and usually the “break” is where the cartiledge is. I say this just in case yours is a true break in the traditional sense (a crack in the bone).-- mine weren’t, so you might have different healing time.
If you have an actual fracture in the bone, my suspicion is that you would have better and faster healing from that - just give it time and it will heal. Dislocations are harder, because sometimes the joint doesn’t return to its normal position (I think a lot of people have chronic pain because of this).
For me, I had the dislocation kind. I couldn’t sit properly for about 3 months (forget getting on a horse… I couldn’t sit in a chair). Around 3.5 months, I did start getting back on a horse, and while it hurt some, I think it actually provided some therapy. One of the tough things with a dislocation, is that because you can’t sit straight, you “sit” in all sorts of bizarre positions to try to keep yourself out of pain. This really tends to put all the other muscles in your lower back, hips, etc. completely out of whack. So then you have resulting pain from the fact that your back and muscles are so tight and knotted. Keeping the surrounding muscles in good order is something that is worth doing… so I highly recommend a good physical therapist. It won’t help the tailbone per se, but it does help keep the surrounding muscles from becoming so tight that they continue to pull the broken tailbone out of alignment. When you get to the point that you can kind of sit, I think doing some gentle walking/posting trot in the saddle can really help. It always made me sore, but riding really stretches your seat muscles better than anything I’ve found, so I think it was helpful in getting my body back towards normal.
rileyt is so right. It truly sucks when you "break"your tailbone and it sets back in the wrong position.
I am now 54. When I was 18 I took a tumble from a horse onto concrete and “broke” my tailbone. The ER doc said broken, didn’t say anything about dislocated, but when it “set” it was at a 45 degree angle from where it should be.
Miserable pain for months. Couldn’t sit in one position for longer than a few minute.
To this day, I cannot sit for longer than half an hour or so without pain. I drive with a donut in the seat.
I surely do hope yours heals better than mine did!
[QUOTE=Kitari;4703458]
…, situps rolling, hell laying on your back and thinking about getting up. It took months to be completly pain free. but its best not to push the issue in general.[/QUOTE]
yes, I still have mornings where I am afraid to sit up! Even though it’s been more than a year!:no:
OMG - I’ve not read everyone else’s experience with this but I came off my horse in late Aug of last year. It hurt like a M@#@@@ F$$### for about a month after that (and I had to fly to the west coast from FL 5 days after I did it - talk about torture!!!). I got back on the horse in late Sept/early Oct but could not sit trot - I did a clinic around the first of Oct but had to post the entire time and my canter was in a half seat (that was fun schooling 1st / 2nd dressage LOL). I STILL have pain if I sit too long or sit in certain types of chairs…
some friends that have had it happen to them said that it took about a year for all pain to go away… sigh.
I feel for you really!!!
I was bucked off about 2 weeks ago and ended up with a vertical fracture to my sacrum and a closed fracture in my left pelvis. Very painful but I am seeing improvement every day. This forum thread was very helpful! The ER doctor said I should be healed within 6 weeks. My PT says I should get another CT scan at 6 weeks to verify that both fractures are healed, especially the one in the skinny part of the pelvis. sigh Thank goodness my employer is ok with me telecommuting for 3 weeks and I have someone who is able to ride my horses twice a week. Very frustrating to have to move so slowly and, wow, getting into a vehicle is the pits!
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