A retrospective study on the pathologies in patients with coccydynia-lumbosacralgia and their treatment

The aim of this study was to arrange the treatment according to the etiology following the differential diagnosis in patients who had presented to the Orthopedics and Traumatology and General Surgery outpatient departments, and to emphasize the post-treatment success.

The charts of 156 patients who had presented to the Orthopedics and Traumatology, General Surgery Departments of the Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine between July 2012 and June 2021 were retrospectively reviewed after permission was obtained from the ethics committee in this study. The demographic findings and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) results for those with a symptom of pain as detected during the physical examination were recorded from the patient charts.

A total of 156 patients who had presented with traumatic and non-traumatic conditions to the Orthopedics Clinic complaining of pain, burning, sensitivity, discharge and hyperemia at the coccyx region were included in the study. The reason for the lumbosacralgia was found to be traumatic as in heavy lifting or working physically difficult jobs in 62 of the 95 patients (65.26%) who presented with lumbosacralgia and pain referred to the coccyx. The mean VAS was 7.37 before treatment and 2.32 following conservative treatment. There was a history of falling on the coccyx region in 8 of the 14 patients with traumatic isolated coccydynia. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 8.64 in the patients with a diagnosis of coccydynia while the post-treatment mean VAS was 0 in 8 patients with full recovery, 4.33 in 3 patients with partial recovery, and 9.66 in 3 patients with no recovery. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 7.58 in the 29 patients with thrombosed hemorrhoids, decreasing to 0 after treatment. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 4.16 in the 18 patients with a pilonidal sinus, again decreasing to 0 after treatment.

Possible underlying etiological factors should be taken into account when making a diagnosis in patients with coccydynia and the treatment should be determined in a multidisciplinary manner.