With the right knowledge and experience,
tailbone pain is not a very complicated problem
to treat and solve in most cases
– Elif Gürkan
Our guest in this episode is Dr. Elif Gürkan. She is an experienced Turkish physician that worked in several different countries. She runs her own clinic in Istanbul now and a true specialist on tailbone pain. Next to having experienced tailbone pain herself, she treats tailbone patients for over 25 years and was one of the pioneers in her country on this topic. She trained with Dr. Maigne, a name that came by multiple times in the podcast and is one of the ‘godfathers’ in the field of tailbone diagnostics, treatment and research.
Now, over 3000 patients further, she shares her experience and wisdom with us. We will go into where tailbone pain comes from, what is the underlying mechanism and her experiences treating it through manual mobilisations and injections. Elif also is one of the organisers of the upcoming 5th International Symposium on Coccyx Disorders in Turkey, where she will be presenting about manual therapeutic techniques and teach a workshop.
More about that you will learn in this episode and we will of course also dive into the topic of her speciality: tailbone pain and how to diagnose and treat it. She will share with us her extensive knowledge and experience.
You can find the podcast in the menu under Podcast as well as the links to the platforms where it is posted.
Extra’s
During this episode you heard Elif talk about a lot of topics and here is some extra information and links.
5th International Symposium on Coccyx Disorders : July 4-5. 2006 in Istanbul-Turkey
Are you interested in diagnostics and treatment of tailbone pain? Learn for the absolute elite experts at the World Symposium.
All the info you can find over here: https://www.istanbul-coccyx.com/en
Next to Elif and me there will be a lot of therapists, doctors and researchers presenting their findings and sharing knowlegde and experiences.
Exercises
Elif shared two exercises what people wit tailbone pain can do.
Glute strengthening
This very simple exercise wil help you to activate the glute musculature. Stand in front of a table and flex the knee of one leg. Now move the leg backwards so you extend in your hips. In this way the glutes are activated and this can be benificial to help you with your tailbone pain.
Make sure to train both sides. As with all exercises for muscle activation, make sure you feel the muscle tiring and that there is no pain in the tailbone during or after the exercise.
Squat sitting
Short moments (7-9 seconds) of sitting in this position is beneficial for the tension around the tailbone. In this position you can gently push a little bit downwards towards the anus, just as you would when defecating on the toilet. Make sure you don’t make it a strong push; all is in order to relax the pelvic floor.
This exercise was also mentioned by Sary in episode 7 and in that episode we dive deeper into this exercise.
I also in detail present it on my website and you can find this on this page.
Pillow for tailbone pain
Finally Elif mentioned what are good and less recommended pillows to sit on when you have tailbone pain. She shared this one:
The pillow has a hole in the back where the tailbone is and instead of the doughnut or ring shaped ones (often advised but less effective), leaves space for back support and supports the sitting bones. This one is also wedge formed, so less thick at the front side. This helps to easier sit straight up.
The choice for the best tailbone pillow can be a very personal one in my personal experience. I have several in my practise to people can try them, and I recorded a video about the several options of tailbone pillows some time ago. It is in Dutch but might still be useful to see if you don’t master the national language on my Instagram page through this link.
Consultations by Elif
You can find the clinic of Elif by clicking here.
Get in touch
In you have any questions about anything in and outside of this episode, comments or requests, let me know! You can email me through the contact field below or directly at roel@roelwilbers.nl.