Corticosteroid Injection by Palpation Guide versus Palpation Guide and Needling Method for Coccydynia

Background: Coccydynia is a painful condition with tenderness and ache in sacrococcygeal area which may radiate to the buttocks and lower back. Coccydynia is a multifactorial disorder and the most common cause of it is trauma. The initial treatment of the disease is conservative methods. One of the most common conservative treatments of chronic coccydynia is the local corticosteroid injection, which performed usually by palpation-guided method. This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of local corticosteroid injection using palpation and needling method with palpation method alone. Patients and Methods: In this prospective study, 50 patients with the diagnosis of coccydynia were enrolled between 2010 and 2017. All patients had chronic coccydynia which did not respond to conservative therapy for at least three months. Participants were divided into two groups and each group consisted of 25 individuals. Patients who underwent local corticosteroid injection using palpation guide technique alone were assigned as group A and others who underwent palpation guiding injection with needling technique were considered as group B. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the mean VAS scores in preinjection and final follow up visit in each groups (P value < 0.001). Moreover, the difference between the mean VAS scores of the final visit in groups A and B was statistically significant (P value < 0.001). Conclusion: Local corticosteroid injection using palpation guiding technique with needling is an uncomplicated, inexpensive, and effective invasive conservative treatment for refractory chronic coccydynia.