Do you ever notice that when you get done with a long day of work, the base of your spine is aching? Do you avoid going to social gatherings and community events because you know the seating there will be too hard? Do you fight sciatica pain or orthopedic condition risks every day?
If any of this sounds familiar, you could benefit from a coccyx pillow. Read on to learn more about these cushions and how they can help you live your best pain-free life.
What Is Your Coccyx?
Before we dive into all the benefits a coccyx pillow can bring to your life, let’s talk a little about what your coccyx is. You’re probably already familiar with your coccyx, but you know it by a different name: your tailbone. Your coccyx is the little bone at the end of your spine that is all that’s left of the tails we used to have.
Most of us may not think much about our coccyx, but it actually supports much of your weight throughout the day. Over time, your coccyx may become injured or sore, especially if you’ve recently had an injury. It may become painful for you to sit, especially on hard surfaces.
Common Causes of Coccyx Pain
There are a number of things that can cause your coccyx to ache. One of the most common is injury; pulling a chair out from someone may seem like a fun prank in middle school, but it can cause them to break their tailbone. If your tailbone has started hurting, try to remember if you’ve fallen or had some sort of other injury around your hips recently.
Sometimes your coccyx may begin to hurt because of long-term wear and tear. If the chair you sit on all day every day doesn’t have a good cushion in it, your tailbone can become strained. And if you’ve recently given birth, your coccyx may have gotten injured or strained during the intensity of physical labor.
What Is a Coccyx Pillow?
If your tailbone is injured, you might find yourself in something of a catch-22. You can’t stand up all the time, but sitting down places more strain on your tailbone and makes it hurt more. How do you give your tailbone time and space to heal without standing through all of your meetings, meals, and free time?
A coccyx pillow is designed to give your tailbone a break while still supporting the rest of your body. These pillows are often wedge-shaped and have a notch at the back where your tailbone is. This removes pressure from your tailbone and helps to relieve pain while you heal.
Picking the Right Coccyx Pillow
When you’re shopping for a coccyx pillow, there are a few features you want to look out for. First of all, make sure the pillow will fully cover your thighs when you sit down. Some coccyx pillows even have divots cut in for your thighs to rest in, keeping you in proper ergonomic position.
You should also look for a coccyx pillow made of memory foam. Memory foam is a dense material composed of polymers that are designed to soften as they absorb heat from your body. This allows these cushions to give way in the areas where there is higher pressure, while supporting the rest of your body.
1. Relieve Tailbone Pain
One of the primary benefits coccyx pillows can bring, unsurprisingly, is relieving coccyx pain. When your coccyx is injured, even well-cushioned chairs may put too much pressure on your coccyx. If you’re suffering from some sort of injury, this constant pressure can make it hard for your tailbone to heal, leaving you in pain the whole time.
Because a coccyx pillow has a notch where your tailbone sits, it removes all pressure from your tailbone. Instead, your weight is transferred to the rest of your hips and thighs. And in the case of memory foam pillows, your weight is distributed evenly across your entire backside, thanks to its ability to mold to your shape.
2. Support Your Low Back
Have you ever noticed that after a long day at work or in the car, your low back is achy? Our spines have a natural curve in our lumbar region that needs to be maintained. Unfortunately, many times our backs get pulled out of alignment and that curve can become strained.
A coccyx pillow not only removes pressure from your tailbone, but it also gently pulls your spine back into alignment. The wedge shape of the pillow encourages your hips to rock forward, which pulls your spine back into its natural curve. This can help to relieve pressure from your low back and keep you pain-free all day long.
3. Improve Your Posture
You’ve probably heard all your life that it’s important to stand up straight. But did you know that your posture when you’re sitting is just as important? Most of us spend our days hunched over keyboards and desks, which places a lot of strain on our backs and necks and may even slow down our digestive systems.
Because a coccyx pillow pulls your hips forward, it helps to encourage better posture. It’s harder to slouch when your hips are in the right position, so you’ll start to use your back and core muscles more to support yourself. As those muscles get stronger, you’ll find it easier to maintain good posture all the time, whether you’re standing or sitting.
4. Get Proper Support
When we do sit down, it’s important to make sure we’re getting proper support. Many traditional cushions give way under our weight as soon as we sink into them. This leads to more pressure being placed on specific points, including our hips and, yes, our tailbones, which can cause soreness and even leave us at risk for osteoporosis and similar conditions.
Part of the reason it’s so important to get a memory foam coccyx cushion is that they relieve pressure from those points and redistribute it across your entire seat. Memory foam will give under those higher pressure areas without collapsing under the rest of your weight. Your thighs and buttocks will get plenty of support, while your hips and tailbone will get a break.
5. Improve Circulation
Humans were never designed to spend as much time sitting down as we do, and it can lead to a variety of health concerns. While obesity and low muscle mass are certainly on the list of issues, poor circulation can also be a large risk. If you spend too much time sitting down, you could raise your risk of deep vein thrombosis and other such conditions.
Using a memory foam coccyx pillow could help improve your circulation. Because memory foam gives under your weight without collapsing, it can help to relieve pressure on your blood vessels. Keeping your hips in proper position can also help to prevent the blood vessels in your hips from getting pinched and allowing clots to form.
6. Help Injuries Heal
Whenever you suffer an injury, one of the most important things while you’re recovering is to give your body time to rest and recuperate. But coccyx injuries make it harder to do that. You may be constantly putting pressure on your tailbone, re-injuring it again and again and prolonging the healing process.
A coccyx pillow is the best way to avoid having to stand all the time while your tailbone heals. These pillows can also help you recover from other injuries in this area of your body, since it minimizes pressure on any given point. And the improved circulation memory foam can provide can help your body deliver key nutrients to the injured areas, speeding up your healing process.
7. Recover from Childbirth
If you’ve recently given birth, the idea of sitting in a normal chair may be daunting. Your entire pelvic region just went through nine months of extreme physical changes, followed by the unbelievable feat of labor. Your tailbone and many other things in that area may need a little extra support while you recover.
The last thing you want while you’re caring for and potentially nursing a new infant is to be in pain. Coccyx cushions can take pressure off your tailbone and minimize pressure on your vaginal area. This will keep you pain-free so you can just soak up the joy of being a new parent.
8. Manage Orthopedic Conditions
If you have any sort of orthopedic condition, normal seating arrangements may not be a reasonable option for you. Maybe you have osteoporosis and you could risk getting stress fractures from sitting in normal seating for too long. Or maybe you’re struggling with arthritis, a recent fracture, spinal problems, or a host of other problems.
Any of these conditions can make extra pressure from hard seating uncomfortable or even dangerous. A memory foam coccyx cushion is designed to redistribute your weight and protect your body. You can reduce your risk of further injury and give your body time to heal pain-free while you go on with your life.
9. Prevent Injuries
On the subject of reducing risk of injury, coccyx pillows can be a great tool even for those who haven’t yet experienced a pelvic or orthopedic injury. Oftentimes, coccyx pain can be the result of many years of sitting in seats that are too hard or poorly designed. And once you’ve crossed that threshold into pain, the recovery period can be long and inconvenient.
A coccyx cushion prevents these injuries from ever occurring in the first place. When you support your spine and tailbone from Day 1, you give your body the best shot at a healthy life. And wouldn’t we all rather nip painful conditions in the bud before they start impacting our day-to-day lives?
10. Reduce Sciatica Pain
If you’re living with sciatica, it may feel like pain will be a part of your life forever. Sciatica is a painful condition caused by pressure on the sciatic nerves, which run from your hips into your thighs. When this nerve gets compressed, it can send pain shooting down your backside and into your leg.
Two of the keys to managing sciatica without surgery are maintaining proper posture and reducing pressure on your hips. Oftentimes, the sciatic nerve will get compressed by a disc sliding out of place or a joint being pinched. Keeping your hips and spine in proper alignment will help to reduce pressure on this nerve, as will redistributing your weight across a memory foam cushion.
11. Stay Comfortable Anywhere
One of the best things about coccyx cushions is that they’re very portable. Yes, you may have a fantastic, supportive chair at home or at work, but what happens when you’re driving? What do you do when you go to church, to a restaurant, to a friend’s house, on an airplane?
Most coccyx pillows are designed to be lightweight so you can carry them with you anywhere you go. They work with just about any sort of seating arrangement, including chairs, pews, car seats, and more. You don’t have to suffer through any more meals or events in pain; just toss down your coccyx cushion and live your best life!
Discover the Benefits of a Coccyx Pillow
Having a coccyx pillow around can help bring a number of benefits to your life. From reducing your risk of DVT and sciatica pain to managing orthopedic conditions, these cushions can keep you healthy and pain-free. And since they’re lightweight, you never have to dread being in pain through a social event again.
If you’d like to discover the benefits of a coccyx pillow for yourself, check out the rest of our site at Everlasting Comfort. We have everything from memory foam pillows and cushions to humidifiers and essential oil diffusers to help you live your most comfortable life. Shop our collections today and make pain a part of your past, not your future.
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