Your tailbone started hurting SPONTANEOUSLY??? After doing some cleans?? Never heard of this.
Member
Tailbone Hell!!!
I am currently deployed to Afghanistan and have been doing SS for the past 5 months. Great success so far with 45 lbs gained and all of my lifts increasing dramatically. However, I recently have injured my tailbone and, well, this depresses me because I cannot continue to lift like a man.
I first noticed some pain after a session of power cleans. My tailbone area, just above the crack of my ass, felt tight during lifting, and after the work out was mildly painful when I rose from sitting. The next week, though, when squatting on my first set I got a sharp, acute pain in the same area. I could not even walk the half kilometer to my room. The PA here looked at it briefly and gave me some pain killers-they aren't equipped well to give a good diagnosis on this base. After about 8 days I felt 100 percent and so returned to the gym. While warming up with 135 lbs, same thing happened during the squat. Horrendous pain, very paralyzing in that I can hardly stand and walking is difficult and comical to watch. Returned to PA but he can't offer much to help other than to get my ass out of theater-a non-option.
Is this a common injury? The pain occurs when coming out of the bottom of my squat. I feel like the hip drive may be putting too much pressure on my ass, and thus the injury results.
I know how important squats are to my growth and I feel like any time off will erase months of hard work. Are leg presses really an acceptable replacement? Thanks
SSG B
TMPHBITEU
Your tailbone started hurting SPONTANEOUSLY??? After doing some cleans?? Never heard of this.
Member
The cleans caused some tightness during lifting accompanied by mild to moderate pain about 30 minutes after the workout. It vanished within 24 hours though. It was a week later, when attempting a 5 rep PR SQUAT that it hurt so suddenly and painfully on the 4th rep that all of the opium in Afghanistan could not have eased my suffering. I let eight days pass before I decided to warm up the squat and see if it would still trouble me. It did, and at a very low weight for me.
My research from this informative site and some others indicates that this is, in fact, unusual. Most people seem to just experience a slow onset of mild pain and discomfort in their coccyx. Today is day 4 following the injury and I can now walk again. Standing from a sitting position is still painful and difficult. I'd like to get it checked out at a better facility but there are still Talibs need killin'.
Thanks for the response, Mr. Rippetoe. Don't necessarily need a follow-up from you just wanted to record the symptoms in case any others encounter this crippling problem in the future.
TMPHBITEU
Yeah, this is unusual. We'll see if anyone else comments.
Member
Well, we can only speculate from here but I'll go with a fracture of some sort... Though you probably would have known when it happened.
Have you had a hard landing (in or out of an aircraft) lately?
Member
No hard landings. I am an infantryman so the wear and tear on the entire body is probably a contributor. I don't think it is a fracture because I feel like I am about 80 percent healed after 5 days, though I know if I were to squat again that I'd be back to square one. I have heard that women in labor can sometimes "seperate" their tailbone. I don't think I've given birth lately, but I'm not positive of this.Originally Posted by ColoWayno
Member
Well damn, I failed as an Internet doctor.
Keep safe out there.
Maybe you can get to a bigger base soon and get some real help.
Member
It's not your tailbone , you're lifting with bad form (at least the powerclean you did) and you've strained one of the ligaments in your lower back, down low by your ass crack where there isn't muscle belly hardly. I know as a well meaning idiot with an air of authority (the most dangerous type of person) gave me some bad advice once and it happened to me. Took a while to figure out it wasn't a disc etc as it was recurring for about a year once it happened.
You can know that's what it is 1. it wasn't instant 2. it was during a power clean (like the deadlift) 3. you weren't dibilitated from continuing your workout initially 4. you felt paralysed about 30mins - hr later 5. it felt fine a few days later 6. it came right back when trying to squat etc
Whats happening is their isn't much pain because you only mildly strained it and it's not a muscle belly tear but the swelling from the strain increases enough in that area and eventually aggravates all the nerves around your spine which are close enough to and it starts causing spasms and pain.
What percentage is 135lbs to your 5rm? I'd leave it a week before doing anything, since 8 days wasnt enough to do 135lbs then you know not to go that heavy this time, don't enough touch weights for 2 weeks. Work on mobility, getting comfortable in positions etc Then start light by setting 135lbs as your 5rm working weight and warmup to that. Also have ice handy incase it bothers it at any point.
However....you're form being wrong is a guarantee it'll happen again if you don't fix your powerclean and that along with (if 135lbs is light for you which i take you were implying) it hurt again a week later after 135lbs that your squat is bad also. You need to film yourself at least to compare yourself. You don't realise what your doing without filming or having a coach, it'll help tremendously.
I did the same badly a few years ago. Was recurring (always reinjured after a few sessions of squat DL and paralyzed for a few days before i could start trying again) and used to have tightness there afterwards until i started SS. Once i did the tightness/ache went away in bout a month of exercise (correctly performed!) and eventually my back was strong enough that even when i had a bad lift a strained it again a few months in at a much heavier weight, it only put me out for 3 days (without paralyzing pain)and i was back to where i started after one light session, due to it being strengthened and knowing how to lift so as not to put any undue stress on it again. Never had a problem since.
Member
Huge,
Lots of good advice here and I appreciate your testimonial. Sounds like your situation matches mine very closely. I should clarify that it was a squat clean, so low at the bottom that if I weren't wearing shorts and I was ten years older my balls would be resting on the floor. Alas, I cannot upload any video because of our low speed internet out here. I will give it a try but most of the time my attempts to upload even pictures fails. I will be stateside in a couple short months though and will share as soon as possible. Also, if I do get it to work it will probably be footage of me with just the bar, as I can be punished under the UCMJ for hurting myself repeatedly and negligently.
As you describe it, it was discomfort the first time followed by severe pain my next two attempts at squat. My 5RM was 315lbs at the time, though about a month ago I squatted in pants and my 3x5 was 355 lbs. I stopped wearing pants because I felt that they artificially increased my PRs.
I made some recent changes to my squat in order to correct what I was seeing in some youtube footage of lifters that learned from Mark. I felt that my torso wasn't horizontal enough for the low bar, and also that my hip drive wasn't exaggerated enough. Also I started going lower, and my fellow SS trainee watches my hip/knee relationship to ensure that I am not cheating. I don't think there are any problems here but of course without video cannot be sure.
My clean: Sometimes I am told that my body does not fully extend during the pull, and that I get under the bar too soon. Also I am guilty of a slight bounce off of the knees, but I don't think this upsets the bar path too much. I have, when failing a rep, been guilty of some slight rounding and failure to keep my chest up at the rack, though when this occurs I naturally dump the bar. However, this is the most likely culprit for my injury, IMO, as it is the only time I can think that my form would make my back vulnerable. I feel that the less than perfect form I experience is from trying to progress, and that in doing so there are going to be failed reps, and one cannot really fail a squat clean with perfect form. I do a 5x3 @ 185 lbs.
I appreciate your advice. Do you think I'll be okay if I bench, pull-up, weighed dip, and press? I think, despite my urges, I'll wait 30 days until I squat again, and work to make 135 my working set. I think based off of some of the things you mentioned, your understanding of the onset of pain, etc, that I have received an accurate internet diagnosis....who'da thunk it??? Hope to provide video soon. Thank you.
Member
You'll have to use your instinct when it comes to other exercises.
For me bench would aggravate it especially if my butt was not supported by the bench (when using those adjustable ones, they leave a large gap between seat and back). But if I put my feet up on it or something else to take the arch out of my back, it was fine. Pull ups helped I think, it was never right tho til I got squatting properly.
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