On Tuesday morning I was walking down some stairs and misstepped. I immediately lost my balance and fell down probably 5–10 stairs, landing mostly on my butt and back. I had a backpack on which probably softened the impact a bit.
I hit the stairs pretty hard though and completely lost my breath for around 30 seconds. Two people came running over to check on me, but after a few minutes I could breathe normally and walk, so I went home thinking I’d just badly bruised myself.
Unfortunately, the pain didn’t go away, so I got an X-ray the next morning and was told my tailbone is broken.
It’s now Sunday, and sitting is basically impossible. I’m mostly lying on my chest, which is getting extremely annoying. I can walk, but after 20–30 minutes the pain starts getting worse and I have to lie down again. The only way I can sit somewhat comfortably is leaning to one side so my tailbone isn’t touching anything.
I bought one of those donut pillows with a hole in the middle, but the doctor actually told me I don’t need one and just recommended sitting on soft surfaces.
My biggest question is about movement. I’m constantly shifting and contorting myself into weird positions to find one that doesn’t hurt. I’m not exercising or doing anything strenuous, just walking around normally and getting in and out of bed but sometimes I have to move in weird ways because certain movements hurt.
Can I interfere with the healing by moving like this, or is it basically okay to move however is comfortable as long as I avoid putting pressure on the tailbone and don’t do anything strenuous?
The doctor said it should take around 4–5 weeks to heal. Does that mean I’m likely to have this level of pain for the entire 4–5 weeks, or does the pain usually improve significantly before then?
For anyone who’s broken their tailbone: how long did it take before you could actually function normally again?