Take good care of your tailbone. I didn’t – and my derriere has never been the same since | Adrian Chiles
My coccyx still hurts from an extreme cycling challenge almost two decades ago. Is there anything it’s good for? ‘Welcome to middle age.” This is what my GP said to me 10 years ago when I asked her why I needed this pill or that. Being then just shy of 50, that hit home. Now being just shy of 60, I mutter those words to myself at least once a day. There’s a long list of aches, pains and assorted…
Adrian Chiles shares his ongoing battle with tailbone pain after participating in an extreme cycling challenge two decades ago. A GP once told him that he would need numerous medications for his discomfort around the age of 50, but now at nearly 60, those words ring even more true. Pain in his shoulders is another persistent issue, making simple tasks like reaching for something on a high shelf or retrieving items from the back seat of a car a more calculated affair.
He interviews Prof Alice Roberts, a multidisciplinary expert, who reveals that her doctoral research focused on rotator cuff ailments across humans and apes, highlighting the evolutionary and anatomical connections between the two. Chiles finds comfort in recognizing his shared history with our ancestors, feeling a sense of kinship with a prehistoric individual experiencing similar pain while performing tasks.
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