When Mary Scott started Yoga for Moms with New Babies, she was 6 months postpartum, and had constant pain in her tailbone. Her tailbone would go numb after sitting for long periods of time, and hurt upon standing. It would hurt after sitting in the car, playing with her kids on the floor, or even sitting in her bed.
Tailbone pain can come up postpartum for a number of reasons. Some women fracture their tailbone during childbirth, but that is rare. Sometimes, your tailbone gets misaligned or dislocated after childbirth. You can experience tailbone pain due to nerve pain or damage. And, you can experience tailbone because of pelvic floor dysfunction.
If you have tailbone pain postpartum, it’s important to talk to your healthcare provider and/or pelvic floor therapist about it so you can figure out the cause of your pain. In addition, it’s helpful to work with a postpartum movement specialist who can help you improve your pain.
After six weeks of Yoga for Moms with New Babies, Mary Scott started to notice vast improvements. Her tailbone would feel better for hours after class.
Here’s what we did:
Release her pelvic floor.
If your pelvic floor is tight, it can pull on your tailbone, leading to pain and discomfort. Some of your pelvic floor muscles attach to your tailbone, and when they are tight, they can cause your tailbone to shift to one side, or tuck underneath you, and your tailbone may not like that.
I taught Mary Scott a technique to encourage her back pelvic floor muscles to release, and she begins her practice with this technique every single class, and keeps up with it between classes as well. You can see it here.
We also worked on her breathing, and restoring full 360 degree breathing to her body. This gets your pelvic floor muscles moving. If your pelvic floor muscles are tight, they are not moving.
Improve her posture
There’s something noticed right away when I watched Mary Scott in practice: she had a tendency to hyperextend her knees and clench her butt
Butt clenching tightens your back pelvic floor muscles, the ones that attach to your tailbone. Some people pick up the habit during pregnancy, because it helps their body off-set the growing weight of their belly. This habit can stick around postpartum if you don’t intentionally work on it. Some folks pick it up postpartum as a way to compensate for a loss of stability somewhere else. For instance, if you lose strength and stability in your abdominal muscles, your butt might grip to create that stability. Just remember- gripping will never strengthen a muscle, only weaken it.
How do you know if you are a butt gripper? During daily activities like washing the dishes, brushing your teeth or changing a diaper, shake out your glutes. Did you feel them relax? Then you were gripping your butt.During practice, I remind Mary Scott to soften her knees, which helps her butt relax. During her day-to-day life, she shakes out her butt to remind it to relax.
Strengthened her glutes
Gripping your butt doesn’t create strength in your glutes. In fact, it does the opposite- it weakens them. Muscles have to lengthen in order to contract. If a muscle is locked long, it isn’t strong. If a muscle is locked short, it isn’t strong either.
In Yoga for Moms with New Babies, we do a lot of glute Bridges, hip-hinging, squats, and side lunges to help strengthen your glutes. What do all these glute strengthening movements have in common? They move your glutes through their full range of motion, which helps them be strong. As you lower into a squat, side lunge, or bottom of a Bridge Pose, your glutes have to lengthen, and that is great for your glutes if you are a butt gripper or have tight back pelvic floor muscles. When you lift up into a Bridge, or stand up from a squat or side lunge, your glutes contract.
Lengthening and contracting your glutes gets them strong. When your glutes are strong, your pelvic floor muscles can relax. Strong glutes=happy pelvic floor.
Improved her upper back and rib mobility
Tightness in the upper back and ribs can lead to a rounded posture, and that rounded posture can cause your tailbone to tuck under, leading to pain and discomfort. Note, it’s not inherently wrong to tuck your tail. We do it all the time in yoga. Your body just doesn’t like to be stuck. It likes to move!
In addition, tightness in the upper body can create shallow breathing patterns. If your breathing patterns are shallow, your pelvic floor isn’t getting good movement. Just like your glutes, your pelvic floor needs to lengthen AND contract. If it’s not lengthening, it can lead to chronic tightness. Twists, Fish Pose and other movements that open the ribs creates more space in the rib cage. When your ribs have the space to move, it's easier to find that 360 breath. 360 degree breathing can help your pelvic floor let go of tightness.
“I have really been enjoying class as both a way to unwind and dedicate time and care to myself and also to challenge myself a bit and build strength. Since starting this series, I have noticed my tailbone hurting much less often. It used to be anytime I sat for long periods of time (in the car, in my kids’ playroom, even in a comfy chair/bed). Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed it much less frequently- probably about once a week.”
-Mary Scott
The next round of Yoga for Moms with New Babies starts September 12th. If you want to improve tailbone pain, SI joint pain or want to improve pelvic floor dysfunction, this series will help.
I only take 8 students in each series, and the last few series sold out.
Click here to sign up, and now through August 26th, use code MRY in the coupon field at checkout for $50 off the entire series. Payment plans are available at check out.
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