Bodies are Weird

As you all know, I’ve had this tailbone thing going on for almost two weeks now. I fell roller skating, and it hurt. I thought maybe it was broken, or at the very least, I had a severe bone bruise. The pain was at a nearly consistent level since the fall, so it didn’t really seem to be healing super well.

Well, on Monday, I decided to go for a walk at lunch. I was tired of being cooped up inside, and figured that since walking only caused me minimal discomfort, why not give it a go? I set out with the idea of just going for my entire hour long lunch break, however far that took me. It was really nice to be moving my body, and I was enjoying the sun and trees. All of a sudden, I stubbed my foot on the curb, and I lurched forward. I managed to stay on my feet, but I felt extreme pain in my tailbone region–worse even than when I initially fell, and worse than I’d felt at any point since.

I started to panic. Oh god, now I’ve done it. Now it’s REALLY broken, and it’s going to take forever to heal. I’m gonna be in constant pain for weeks. Of course, because I was now over a mile away from work, I had no choice but to continue walking, to get back to my office. At first, the pain was bad. Every step hurt, and I cursed myself for being so stupid and trying to do too much too fast.

But here’s the crazy thing: the more I walked, the less it hurt. By the time I got back to the office, the pain in my tailbone was the lowest it had been since the initial fall. Lower than when I got up that morning. Since Monday, my improvement has been rapid. I can bend over, sit, and stand with only minimal discomfort, and walking gives me barely a twinge. I suspect that the initial fall may have dislocated my tailbone, and when I tripped and lurched, I somehow shoved it back into place. I’m no doctor, but that’s the only explanation I can think of for the sudden, acute pain, and then the almost immediate relief of symptoms.

Thankfully, I have my annual physical tomorrow, so I can talk it over with my doctor and see if I should take any additional steps for diagnosis/treatment. I’m trying not to get too excited and jump right back into training, because I definitely still have some discomfort. But right now, I feel better than I have in almost two weeks, and that’s pretty frickin’ exciting. Bodies, man. They’re so weird. I fall, I get hurt. I trip, I get better. Crazy.

Have you ever magically, accidentally, acted as your own chiropractor?