It is a common warning from parents to their children: never pull the chair from under someone, because a fall on your tailbone can make you blind. Is that really so?
Intuitively, it seems likely that a blow to that very bottom part of your spine – the tailbone or tailbone, also called coccyx – can cause visual problems. After all, the spinal column extends into the neck, close to the occipital lobe in the brain. This includes the visual cortex, essential for our vision. Or like anesthesiologist-pain specialist Hans van den Berg of the Máxima Medical Center in Eindhoven it says in an article on Care special: “Look, theoretically a fall on your tailbone could cause a shock wave in your spine, which in turn could lead to a concussion. Then the part of our brain that controls our vision could also be damaged.”
But nothing is known about it in the scientific literature, says Maarten Jalink, an ophthalmologist in training at UMC Utrecht. “There are no examples of someone who has been blinded by a fall on their tailbone.” You can go blind from a hard blow, especially to your head, he adds. “Then the retina can detach, or an optic nerve can tear, or a hemorrhage can occur in your eye. But there is no direct connection between the tailbone and the eye. The nerves that are in contact with the brain from the eyes do not extend into the spinal cord.”
Pass on painful stimuli
Pelvic physiotherapist Marijke Slieker-ten Hove also calls blindness from a fall on your tailbone “not plausible”. At Erasmus MC and the ProFundum Institute, she has treated many patients with breech problems that do occur frequently: poor balance or incontinence.
The tailbone, she explains, is made up of the last three to five fused vertebrae of the spine. Between the tailbone and the sacrum located above it is a nerve knot that can transmit pain stimuli to the brain in the event of a fall, for example.
The tailbone is mobile and vulnerable. Due to a fall, it can not only break, but also shift forwards, backwards or sideways in such a way that complaints arise. “Especially a side turn often causes stability problems and back and neck complaints. The tailbone is the foundation for our entire system, if it’s not in the right place, people will correct it above it, and that can lead to a wrong attitude. Sitting on one buttock is then the only way to avoid the pain.”
Five years ago, the very first International Bounce Congress was held in Paris. I was so happy
Marijke Slieker-ten Hove pelvic physiotherapist
A violent birth or stress can also have an influence. “Patients who are so tense that they continuously tighten their pelvic floor muscles, unnoticed, also retract their tailbone.” And that can lead to excessive urgency to urinate, incontinence or pain during sex. “The less tension, the better. You really have to learn to sit like a broody hen, relax the bottom.”
Slieker-Ten Hove believes that there is still too little medical knowledge about the tailbone. “Often the meaning is: we can’t help it, just take some painkillers. While physiotherapists can mobilize the coccyx back: we move the trunk in such a way that the coccyx returns to its correct position.” She hopes that attention to the tailbone will increase. “Five years ago, the very first international conference was held in Paris. I was so happy. We have now completed the third. Finally, recognition for the medical importance of the subject.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad of 23 October 2021
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 23, 2021
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