I bought a Gokhale chair in May 2018, tried it a couple of times for about one hour each time, and found it so painful on my butt (specifically, my coccyx) that it's just been sitting here in my office ever since. I've recently started having a similar problem even with my Aeron chair, and have taken to putting a feather pillow on the seat to provide more cushioning. I use a little rubber ball to roll in the area of the piriformis, and I take frequent breaks, but as a writer I need to be able to sit comfortably. The feeling I'm getting is as if the coccyx is bruised, but I've had no falls or accidents, and as I noted above, there is relief when I use roller balls on either side of the tail bone.
It occurred to me that perhaps you all have some experience with this and can offer helpful suggestions. I'd love to be able to use the Gokhale chair without feeling like my derriere is being flattened like a pancake.
P.S. I've also tried a foam stress wedge—https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y9YGFC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1—which also caused terrible pain in the same area. Do I just have a bony tail bone?
2 months 2 weeks ago
07/05/2009 - 7:54am
I'm sorry to hear that various chairs, a wedge and the Gokhale chair are not comfortable for you. The most likely reason is that your pelvis is tucked and you are sitting on your tail bone. The tail bone is a relatively small bone, not a weight bearing bone in the way the other pelvic bones are, so the answer may be to ensure you dont sit on it.
Short term it might help to use a "coccyx cushion" with a hollow so that the coccyx does not bear weight. My feeling is that you might be best to stretch sit for a while using a flat base. If you are very tucked a wedge will not be helpful just yet.
Long term the answer is to untuck your pelvis, but please dont try to force this right away, the body needs time to adapt. In particular its best to lengthen the spine, strengthen various muscle groups and then reshape the body untucking the pelvis.
The pririformis tends to get overworked and become tense in a chronically tucked pelvis, hence it makes sense that anything that helps relax the piriformis is helpful. A good massage therapist can help with piriformis release, bt ideally you want the support of a Gokhale Method teacher seeing you and exactly what is happening in your body and guiding hands you, hands on, to a healthier alignment - thats when the Gokhale Pain Free chair can live up to its name, and become your favourite chair.