Coccygectomy - Dr Richard Parkinson
Ben, Autralia - benjaminjohngiles@gmail.com
Posted 2026-10-18
In 2024 my son fell from a swing at school, completely by accident. As he was beginning the descent from the dizzying heights a 12 year old can get on a swing, the chain snapped on one side and he landed directly onto his tailbone.
We rushed him to the emergency room, an x-ray later there was no obvious break or damage. Lucky we thought.. He healed really well over the next few months with nothing more than rest and a donut cushion, and even returned to martial arts later that year, seemingly unaffected by the accident. Outside of rest, we did not pursue any further treatment.
Early 2025 he had a large growth spurt, his pain returned with a vengeance. He was totally impaired now and unable to sit on any surface without pain. He had to stand at school all day and lie down when he was at home or be on a mountain of cushions. We were shocked at how debilitating his tailbone had become and began to seek more answers. We started with standard physios and chiropractors, and eventually sought out specialist pain Dr's and pain psychologists to try and manage his daily symptoms. We tried an image-guided steroid injection which worked for a few weeks but ultimately the pain returned. We finally tried a few months of pelvic floor physios, which indeed noted muscle guarding and weakness due to the injury, but no amount of exercise or massage would take the pain away.
Connor was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos prior to the accident, it runs in the family. This may be a contributing factor to his pain and how he healed following the accident.
No amount of specialist cushions or treatments could take his pain away, feeling like we had tried absolutely everything we got a referral to see Dr Richard Parkinson at iSpine (see Doctors and specialists in Australia, New South Wales).
We made an initial visit early 2026 to get a final steroid injection from Dr Parkinson and for him to make a final assessment. We gave this a few weeks but the injection lasted as much as the first one. Following this we made the decision to remove his tailbone, after reading multiple stories on the coccyx.org website along with numerous accounts from people on the Facebook group "Coccygectomy Surgery Support Group (Patients Only!)".
Convinced this was the only remaining option, we booked surgery for April 2026. We stayed near Dr Parkinson for 3 weeks to manage the wound care, he did require re-stitching after tearing his wound open around 10 days following surgery. We left the stitches in for another 2 weeks then flew home 90 minutes away. He had them removed at home through a wound care clinic at our local GP.
After some very careful management with his healing and weekly check ins with the wound care Dr's, his wound had completely closed up. After another few weeks at home he returned to school, able to sit on a high end gel cushion that wheelchair users rely on everyday to avoid pressure points.
As of writing this it's now October 2026 and he is doing amazing. He has taken up drumming, obsessed with it! He drums for up to 3 hours every day without pain on a standard drum stool. He still prefers to use the gel cushion for harder surfaces such as school chairs and in the car, but notes that he can now tolerate sitting without it. He can attend school and sit all day, he even walks for up to 2 hours per day home from school and to the shops. He's not back to physical exercise yet but we suspect this is the new love of drumming which is exhausting enough, never was a sporty kid.
We owe Connor's recovery to Dr Parkinson and the skill he's developed performing these surgeries. I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone in Australia dealing with this awful pain.
