Are There Signs of Evolution in Our Body? Part 4- Tailbones / Coccyx

Vestigial Organs, the Tailbone, and the Claim of Evolutionary Leftovers

Are there signs of evolution in your body? Millions have watched this video that claims that some of our arm and ear muscles, as well as goosebumps and our tailbones are leftovers from our supposed evolutionary past.

Let's find out if this is true. But first, let's see the big picture. In the 1890s, so-called vestigial organs numbered as high as 180. Now modern science is actually down to zero. The most recent so-called vestigial organs to make the we-actually-need-these list are the tonsils, the appendix, and the pineal gland.

We've learned that the tonsils and appendix help fight off infection. The pineal gland is critical for biorhythms and sleep. Are our tailbones vestigial? This video claims our tailbones are what's left of our ancestors' tails.

The Baby Misidentified as Having a Tail

Well, did you know that the baby shown in the video with the supposed leftover tail had nothing of the sort? This baby actually had spina bifida, a condition where the backbone does not form normally and a sack of spinal fluid comes through an opening in the baby's back.

Far from being a tail, this is an abnormality, an outgrowth of the spinal cord, which is covered by skin, as the body's way of protecting the bulging area. The actual reason for this baby's so-called tail was greyed out in their video.

How desperate for evidence of vestigial organs must one be to resort to malformations for confirmation? Let's look at it this way. If our tailbones are truly just leftovers from the evolutionary process, why not just take them out whenever they cause trouble, like they used to do 30 years ago with tonsils when they considered them vestigial?

The answer is because they serve so many functions. That's why surgically removing the tailbone is regarded as a last resort by medical experts. After treating hundreds of patients with tailbone issues over the last 20 years, Dr. Shakib has this to say about tailbone removal.

You have to understand, despite what people say or the whole mindset of, oh, your tailbone, you don't need it, this is part of evolution and it was a tail, forget about that part. It actually plays a role in providing an anchor to a lot of ligaments and it provides support for a lot of structures in your pelvic floor, pelvic wall, the integrity of your whole pelvis.

It's not there just to hang out there. It's not there because, you know, it was like extra body part, what are we going to call.

It?

Call it coccyx and put it in the pelvis situation. It actually has a function. So it's like a, like a tent. So you put a bar right here to have an apex for a tent to build a tent around. Look at it like that.

While you're under that tent, without that tip, the tent's going to fall. So this coccyx or tailbone actually provides quite a bit of structural integrity support for the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and connective tissues there.

So if you're told, oh, your tailbone doesn't seem to go away, let's remove it, you're more than likely trading one problem to a set of a bunch of other problems.

The Tailbone’s Anatomical and Functional Roles

The tailbone has many functions. First, it's the terminal point of our spinal column. It's got to end somewhere, right? And rather than just ending with a regular vertebrae, our curved tailbones provide flexible cupped support for our pelvic floor.

Next, key muscle groups connect to the tailbone. They support the surrounding structures, help with delivering babies, sexual pleasure, and both bathroom functions. Support ligaments and the ganglion impar nerve also merge at the tailbone.

The tailbone is also designed to bear weight when we sit, just like one leg of a tripod. When we're seated and lean back, the weight load is shifted almost entirely to the tailbone. Our tailbones are so significant that the medical community holds tailbone symposia and entire books are published on tailbone treatments.

How Tailbone Removal Affects the Pelvic Floor and Spine

Finally, let's hear from pelvic floor specialist, clinician Hina Sheth, about how people can recover from tailbone removal surgery.

Removing the coccyx bones, even part of the sacrum, can actually have an effect on the rest of your body, and I want to talk to you why. This is where your spine would attach, and then this is your sacrum, and then there is your tailbone right over here.

There's a lot of muscular attachments to the tailbone as well as to the sacrum, and this muscular attachment, part of it is the pelvic floor, which is a hammock-type muscle that basically starts at your pubic bone, and then it circles around and it hooks onto your tailbone.

There's lots of muscles in this area, 16-plus muscles of your pelvic floor. Most people think of a pelvic floor as one muscle, but it's actually several different muscles and they have different attachments to many different areas, one of those being the tailbone as well as part of the sacrum.

If these muscles were attached here and you had this bone or part of this bone in the sacrum removed, then what happened to the muscles that were attached to that area? Chances are they may have not even done anything, and so what ends up happening is these muscles can become dysfunctional, and the rest of the muscles have to, if these muscles aren't working correctly anymore because they were either resected or cut off, then the rest of your muscles are probably going to compensate or overwork potentially to make up for the fact that these guys are no longer working anymore.

And if these muscles get super, super tight because they're overworking, then it can affect everything from sexual function to emptying your bladder to emptying your rectum. So that's going to interfere with constipation, and it can interfere with intercourse, and it can interfere with emptying your bladder, and it can cause everything from urinary frequency, meaning you feel like you have to go all the time, it might even give you burning with urination, it can give you pain with having a bowel movement, or again, related to constipation because now you can't sufficiently relax these muscles for the stool to come out.

But the other thing is, it can also create a lot of hip pain, and the reason why is because a lot of this musculature, two muscles in particular called the piriformis and the obturator internus actually hook onto the hip.

And it could also cause low back pain because part of the role of these muscles in the pelvic floor is to actually help to stabilize the pelvis as well as the spine. So for some of you who might be having sacroiliac joint pain, which is this joint right over here, this sacrum attaches to a pelvic bone, and this is called your sacroiliac joint.

So if you have pain in that low back, or even pain in your lumbar spine, or even changes in your lumbar spine, this could be something that has developed over time because of the change due to the removal of the coccyx or the sacrum.

Why This Matters for Christians and Those Considering Faith

As always, even this body part plays multiple roles. In closing, we would like to share why we make these videos. For those who are already Christians, we hope these videos strengthen your faith. It's important that Christians know they can trust God's word, all the way back to the beginning, especially in a world saturated with evolution teaching.

To those being drawn to faith in Christ, trusting in God's word is part of that process. Even though you might not fully believe in these things now, we pray you will grow in trust and understanding that God's word is both scientifically and historically credible, all the way back to the beginning.

Your faith journey begins with repentance and turning away from your sins, realizing that Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to.

God.

In the words of Jesus, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. We encourage you to take this first step to a new life.

Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs? Download the Genesis Apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and more.