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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Should Head, Feet And Tailbone Injury With Back Pain Be Treated?

My husband fell down the stairs, feet first, and hurt his tailbone. He said he also hit his head, but the pain is in his back. Don t know if we should go to the V.A. yet, but applying ice and heat intermittently. Is this the proper treatment? Other suggestions?
posted on Thu, 18 Sep 2014
Twitter Fri, 14 Apr 2017 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 17 Apr 2017 Last reviewed on
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Neurologist,  's  Response
It's hard to say but it sounds as it he may have injured his coccygeal bone which is the "tailbone" and if so then, ice would be proper if the injury just occurred in the past 24-72 hrs. Otherwise, heat would be probably be best to use going forward until seen by the doctor. X-ray needs to be done and he needs to be triaged for a possible head injury if he says he hit his head. Until he's actually seen by a doctor I wouldn't use anything more than either OTC Motrin or Extra Strength Tylenol for the pain according to labeling instructions. Please rate this 5 STARS and write to me with more questions at: www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi
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How Should Head, Feet And Tailbone Injury With Back Pain Be Treated?

It s hard to say but it sounds as it he may have injured his coccygeal bone which is the tailbone and if so then, ice would be proper if the injury just occurred in the past 24-72 hrs. Otherwise, heat would be probably be best to use going forward until seen by the doctor. X-ray needs to be done and he needs to be triaged for a possible head injury if he says he hit his head. Until he s actually seen by a doctor I wouldn t use anything more than either OTC Motrin or Extra Strength Tylenol for the pain according to labeling instructions. Please rate this 5 STARS and write to me with more questions at: www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi