Successful coccyx surgery Australia
Lizzie-Kate, Australia - lizzie.beare@yahoo.com.au
Posted 2025-04-06
In mid-March 2025 a very careful and skilled neurosurgeon in Sydney, Dr. Richard Parkinson from the iSpine Private Clinic at St. Vincent's Private Hospital (see Doctors and specialists in Australia (New South Wales)), surgically removed my fractured coccyx and ended two years of pain for me. Dr. Parkinson practices 'minimally invasive' spinal surgery. My GP recommended him 'after enquiries' and only after I insisted that she take my pain seriously, for she had told me for over a year that things would slowly improve 'naturally'. They didn't of course. I had the classic pain sitting and then on standing up.
She finally sent me for a plain x-ray which showed nothing as the coccyx was almost invisible in it. When I insisted on seeing if surgery could help she was extremely negative and said I would risk ending up anally incontinent from the surgery, or be otherwise negatively affected by spinal issues. I took the referral, searched the internet, and made my own decisions after that. She was, I find now, simply retailing some very old misconceptions from the early days of coccyx surgery, and paying no attention to any improvements in more recent years.
Coccyx pain is often quite medically misunderstood, as experiences recounted in the past twenty years here demonstrate. Surgery is often decided upon after trying other treatments first for many years and at great pain and expense. Also apparent from this site, which anyone with coccyx pain should read, is that the causes of coccyx pain are many, as are the treatments, and results are variable. I eventually formed the view that many people do achieve excellent results with surgery, especially so if the coccyx is dislocated, fractured, or otherwise displaced and the MRI and/or CT scans are properly interpreted. Dr. Parkinson insists on doing his own assessments of these before proceeding.
I discussed with Dr. Parkinson in mid 2024 that if the pain is relieved for a period of months by injections of cortisone mixed with pain killers and done in hospital under a light anaesthesia, then surgery is likely to be successful as the pain is genuine coccydynia (coccyx pain). My pain was caused by a definite fall on ice in January 2023 in Finland which fractured my coccyx, as is clear on the MRI.
I made things worse at that time by continuing with dog-sledding and other jarring activities. My pain was relieved for three months by a first injection from Dr. Parkinson in early 2024 and I opted for a second injection from him as well in November 2024 so I could be relatively pain-free for a new upcoming seven weeks of international travel without pain. I had already decided that this regular injecting treatment could not continue for the rest of my life. Nor had two sessions of physiotherapy internal manipulation improved things much either in between these two injections. I'd given the 'alternatives' enough of a go. I therefore pre-booked to have surgery with Dr Parkinson as soon as I was to return to Australia in March 2025. A bumpy safari in Africa and a tiger safari in India had both punished my coccyx enough by then and pain was again apparent. Surgery, please.
Not all surgeons have the experience, the skill and the specialised training for performing a coccygectomy. Many do not attempt this operation. Finding Dr Richard Parkinson was therefore lucky for me, as he was most reassuring about this surgery. He fulfills all requirements as a trained and experienced surgical specialist, has done heaps of coccygectomies, answers all questions, and you know you are in knowledgeable and caring hands. You pay privately but the result for me so far, after a very uncomplicated recovery process including three nights in hospital, is worth every cent. Dr. Parkinson's fee is circa $2500 AUD, anaesthesia is circa $2,100, assistant surgeon is circa $900, for which Australian Medicare returns very little indeed. If you have private insurance you get a bit more returned on top of the miserable amount Medicare provides and your hospital bills are almost free if you are privately insured. All up, the out of pocket expenses are still substantial. Cheaper than in the US if you are uninsured there, especially given the exchange rate of 60 cents AUD to the USD. Come on down to Australia. Here, by the way, no-one wants you immediately out of hospital. At least one night's stay is required. I had three, due to low blood pressure and need to raise my O2 levels with added O2.
I should add that I am a fit and healthy female but 82 years of age. I will not let age be a reason to be told to put up with pain for the rest of my life. Richard Parkinson felt I was still a candidate for successful surgery and with his skilled help and excellent support from his office and nursing team I have proven to be so. My 4 cm scar is so neat it is not going to be perceptible in a month or so when it heals completely. I had minimal pain due to anti-inflammatories and opioids in the first week, but moved on to only paracetemol after that. I did a gentle dance class the day after the stitches came out at fifteen days since the operation. Now at 18 days out I'm walking daily and from yesterday am keeping the wound without any dressing to let the air get at it. Wandering around the house some of the time naked from the waist down to catch the breeze, warm enough due our pleasant autumnal weather. :)
Antibiotics were only given by IV during my hospital stay. I've followed some the good recommendations for wound and personal body care offered here by others. Everything in my body is working exactly as it should. Best advice - use stool softeners a lot at first, use wet wipes for your toileting, stand at your desk for computing in the first week (a bedtop invalids' table on the desk makes a good standing desk, if it is a new stable type you can lean on it too).
A helpful husband/partner is useful, lucky me having one to replace a grabber wand for picking things up, and lucky him for having his phone camera full of day-by-day photographs of my rear end healing - so I can see it for myself! I had to leave the same waterproof dressing on the wound undisturbed for a week and it was re-dressed in Dr. Parkinson's surgery at Day 7. I had to leave it untouched till stitches were clipped by his nurse at Day 15... You can have a shower with a dressing on without risk of wetting and making it loose if you get your helper to use packing tape and kitchen plastic to attach a Gladwrap 'skirt' over your lower back, and face the shower forwards. Wash your hair leaning forwards not backwards.
Gotta look your best after surgery!! You can blow dry your wound when its exposed as well as your hair.
Best wishes to you all
Lizzie-Kate
Update, 2025-05-31
Hello all, just checking in to say at the 8 week period I am completely cured of coccyx pain and can do all sorts of bending and sitting that I found painful prior to my recent coccygectomy, at age 82 years. It was pretty obvious from day one after surgery that the only pain I had left was from the stitched wound. I have no regrets whatsoever about having that surgery for a clearly fractured coccyx which happened during a fall on ice in Jan. 2023. I went for a year being told nothing could be done, then a year of trying out injections and some internal physiotherapy but decided on surgery when I quickly realised nothing else was going to be effective long-term.
My scar has healed very well. Looks small and neat. I can feel a very slight dip where my coccyx used to join my sacrum, but no pain anywhere, I can sit in any way I like, and lean back and forward without thinking about it, same for bending down to pick things up. I am driving long distances regularly with no thought of sitting issues. I have no effects in my legs, hips, pelvic girdle or feet from this surgery, no tingles etc. but nor did I have any prior to the surgery. In September I am booked for some long-haul air travel with hours of sitting, and I expect no problems.
My surgeon Dr. Richard Parkinson said when I enquired at my 6 week check up that the sacrum will slowly 'heal' where the coccyx was removed, and take six months to finalise the healing process, similarly the space where the coccyx was will slowly fill with various forms of scar tissue and slowly close into a 'pad' of tissue. I cannot feel anything that needs healing, but it is good to know that there is a process for the body to adjust to the loss of the bone. I take Vit D3 to assist with bone healing. I have no pelvic issues nor bowel issues from the surgery but it is important from now on, in my judgement, to take care to never develop any constipation. Don't push your luck there, keep things moving, which is good advice as you get older anyway. Metamucil (psyllium) works well and isn't habit forming so they say.
On the costs in Oz, I think I quoted what our gap fees were, not the total cost, as some is covered by national Medicare and private Medibank insurance.
Worth every penny though and much cheaper than ongoing treatments. Injections requiring anaesthesia were something I didn't want to continue with beyond two of them for physical as well as financial reasons and constant physiotherapy is costly too. On balance, surgery is cheaper, for me.
This post-operative period and the whole event has been far less dramatic than I anticipated, painless and a great relief to have it done. This site has been one of the most important ones I have ever used, a wealth of information and support is here. It helped me to assess my situation and make my decision, as not everyone has the same issues nor the same injuries.
I am also back to doing two exercise dances classes a week, as I have done for the 20 years since I retired from work. I think this regular aerobic exercise is what has kept me fit enough to sustain surgery and recover from this injury.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart for this site, Jon. Best wishes to other people on their various coccyx journeys, for it really is a cruel condition that is often very misunderstood.
