Testimony from Israel
Liran, Israel
I am another one of those who suffers coccyx pain, from Israel. For about 1.5 year that there is no time in day without a pain. Pain started after a trial practice in a gym and stayed till today. There is no medical test that I didn't do, even suggested to go to psychiatrist in case I'm imaging the pain. Eventually, I've been diagnosed with interior angulation of the coccyx 4/4 degree with subluxation.
I had numerous Impar block steroid injection, pudendal block, supposed to go through a Botox injection. Currently, the opposite occur, the pelvis muscles hurts so much, also the anus and its sides, Puborectalis muscles shortened.
Take morphine pills and confirmed to receive cannabis by the health ministry. Suggested with 4 Surgeons that prefer not to remove the coccyx and tell that I should learn to live with the pain.
I can't stand it anymore. I am tired of pain. Two month ago, I found by accident https://www.coccyx.org. I Started to read lots of testimonies of people around the world. It didn't take much time to indicate that there is high percentage of people reported a relief after performed a treatment on Sayer clinic (see Doctors and specialists in the UK, London).
My story was sent as an email to the clinic, Lucie and Alex confirmed that Dr Michael is positive and thinks that he can help me. Couple of weeks later when Covid-19 epidemiology is on rise, I found myself standing in front of Dr Durtanll.
The knowledge and experience of Dr Durtnall regarding coccyx pain was undoubtedly be seen. His attitudes towards my story gave me a hope that there is someone that can help.
This was a very intensive week, a lot of information, exercises, what to do and from what should I avoid, how to keep a positive thinking inside this hell. It seems like I had to be re-born again.
Although, I'm one of the patients that reported with a stubborn coccyx with zero percent of tail movement, still Dr Durtnall made a quite big change by intensive mobilization series that helped for 40 percent of coccyx flexibility.
I can report that after 2 days of treatment the pain vanished. The pain score scale moved from 6-7 to 0 from without taking any drugs. This gave me the hope that I'm on a place that knows what to do.
The treatments also include pelvis physio with Carolina and Magda therapists. I geared up with videos of pelvic exercises that should rehabilitate the flexibility of the pelvic muscles and also strength the supportive abdomen muscles that were neglected for years.
I returned to my place this week.
Currently feels that pain is there (1 of 10), however it can be controlled with the knowledge I gain. I know that it will take time but now I had the knowledge, tools and exercises to rehabilitate the pelvis. The most important, there is someone that is always on my back to keep me up and help me.
I will keep sending updates. meanwhile, Sayer clinic, thank you all for new way of life.
Update, 2021-09-05
History:
I started to suffer from coccyx and anus pain since 2018. The reason is still unknown. After months of unbearable pain, and lack of medical treatment, I performed pelvic Mri.
The diagnosis was Coccydynia - anterior angulation of the coccyx with a severity 4/4. I thought that after finding the reason, I will get the right treatment but I was totally wrong, I left with awful pain because of the lack of medical knowledge about coccyx pain.
I became a different person, less patient, tends to be angry, zero motivation, the more the pain the less active. The pain did not go for a minute 24/7 pain degree 6-7 that can be raised to 8-9, than there is no option but taking Targin-morphine, the only pain killer that had a positive effect, 1 pill every 4-5 days to change the nervous alerting system.
I tried:
- Muscular steroid injection \ radio frequency along 3 years
- aggressive Manipulation of the coccyx under anesthesia at the hospital - together with steroid injection - twice a year.
- Infrared heat therapy
- Physiotherapy - pelvic floor
- Biofeedback
- Deep tissue massage
Lots of medicines
- cannabinoid (oil \ seeds)
- Arcoxia
- Cymbalta
- Zaildar
but still nothing changed, the pain became more and more difficult to handle.
Positive approach: when I visited Coccyx.org website, I started to learn how to deal with coccyx pain. I flew to London twice. The first was at 03/2020 and the second was at 06/2021.
for a medical treatment with chiropractor expert Dr. Durtnall. The treatment includes interior coccyx manipulation, physio, rehabilitation aspects consciousness, awareness, positive thinking, breathing, focus change.. and more
Three weeks after each treatment, I started to feel that there is a good reason to live, pain is eventually decreased. I thought to myself how can I preserve the state and what should I do to control the pain when arises. I started to practice Yoga in private lessons. I work very hard on stretch my legs and pelvic muscles. I joined also a rehabilitation yoga class. I feel it really has a good impact on my life.
I met another chiropractor that taught me some good techniques
1. putting cold ice on the coccyx area and underneath for 15 minutes, 5 times a day.
3. Avoid extra messing with a painful muscles to avoid the opposite - pelvic muscles contractions as a result.
Self practicing
1 legs exercises every day
2. lots of walking,
3. Total awareness:
- When working I use a standing desk.
- avoid sitting as much as possible.
- Driving with 2 cushion at 90 degree, the cushion made of hard foam and in rounded shape. Coccyx has nothing beneath it.
- stand steady, straight, the entire backbone is flat.
4. I didn't lean back more than 80 degree. No sofa or chair without cushion.
5. Use a thumper massager on muscles around coccyx for no more than 10 minutes a day.
I can tell that since 06/2021 I did not take even 1 morphine pill and most of the time pain level is 0-2 from 10. I enjoy playing with my kids for the entire day, whereas I could not be active more than 1 hour beforehand.
I am doing something good but can't tell exactly what is the most effective. Coccyx pain is still part of my life but hopefully I can live with it.
Update, 2026-07-12
After 19 days of treatment at Sayer Clinics in June and July 2026 I am pain free again. I wanted to close the loop on the story I first shared here in 2020 and updated in 2021, and to recommend the team who are carrying that work forward today.
Between 2021 and 2026 I managed on my own, using the guidance Dr Michael Durtnall had given me and a personal video he had recorded for me during one of my visits, explaining the coccyx manipulation, how to sit, how to stand and how to live day to day with the condition. That video, and the tools he gave me, kept me going for years. For a long stretch I was almost pain free, off medication, and living a normal life with my family.
Over time, however, the maintenance side of the work stopped being enough. Life got busy, I neglected the area, and the sacroiliac joints and the muscles around them fell out of good shape. When those muscles stiffen, the pain comes back, and once it comes back it rises. I tried everything possible in Israel again: specialists, imaging, injections, physiotherapy, medication. None of it brought lasting relief. In the end, the honest medical opinion I received here was that the only avenue left within Israel would be surgical, and even that with a modest success rate. The clearest recommendation I was given locally was to return to London for the manual manipulation approach without anaesthesia, rather than accept surgery. So I did.
Coming back to Sayer this year was emotional. Dr Durtnall had passed away in the time between my last visit and this one. His loss is felt deeply, both by the team at the clinic and by patients like me who owe him so much. The most important thing I want to say for anyone reading this is that the method and technique that brought me out of pain in 2020 and 2021 is preserved at Sayer and is still available today. The same core technique captured in the video Dr Durtnall made for me is still at the heart of the treatment. That continuity matters enormously when you are travelling from another country and putting your trust in a clinic to catch you.
There are three people at Sayer today I want to name, because their names are what future patients need to be able to ask for.
Genevieve, the office manager, was available from the very first email I sent, through every question about scheduling, insurance letters, invoices, communication with my doctors at home and every small logistical worry along the way. She made the whole journey from Israel feel manageable, and she brought warmth to every exchange. Anyone travelling from abroad for treatment at Sayer will feel that difference immediately.
Dr Dominic Metcalfe led my coccyx assessment and treatment. He is the owner and lead chiropractor at Sayer, with more than four decades of specialist experience, and his precision, his technique and his maintenance philosophy are a large part of the reason I am writing this pain free. For anyone reading this who wants to understand what the treatment actually consists of, I want to describe it as concretely as I can, because in my experience it is unlike anything I was offered anywhere else. It is a multidisciplinary course of chiropractic and physiotherapy that combines coccyx flexion and extension manipulation, interferential therapy focused first on the sacrococcygeal area and then on the sacroiliac joints, soft tissue work including percussive massage, treatment of the sacrospinous, sacrotuberous and iliococcygeal ligaments with an Activator instrument followed by deep tissue stretching of those ligaments, and pelvic drop technique with side posture adjustments to release the sacroiliac joints. All of that prepares the ground for the most important part: the internal coccyx adjustment that stretches the sacrococcygeal joint itself. Treating the related tissues first is what makes a satisfactory release of the coccyx possible. Dr Metcalfe took my full history seriously, including a session years ago that had gone less well, and he adjusted his approach accordingly. He also planned my ongoing maintenance care so that what we achieved in London does not slip back once I am home.
Madalina Grigore delivered the pelvic floor physiotherapy, together with the internal coccyx manipulation. Her clinical focus is the muscular system: the pelvic floor itself, the sacroiliac area, and the sacral and coccygeal muscles that stiffen around a painful coccyx and lock the joint in place. Dr Metcalfe works on the skeletal and joint anatomy, Madalina works on the muscles that support and surround it, and both perform the internal coccyx adjustment from within their own specialty.
With gratitude to Dr Durtnall, to the Sayer team who carry this work forward, and to Jon for keeping this site alive so that people like me can find their way here.
Liran from Israel
