Outer Tailbone Zone (Zone 58): Tailbone Pain Reflexology on the Heel
The outer tailbone zone (Zone 58) is a curved band around the outer back corner of the heel, from the sole up toward the cord behind the ankle. In foot reflexology it is commonly used for tailbone ache and for sciatica. Work it for about a minute on each foot, with its partner on the inner heel.
| Where | The outer back corner of the heel, in a curved band from the edge of the sole up toward the heel cord. |
|---|---|
| How to find it | Put your thumb on the round bone on the outside of the ankle, drop straight down to the heel, then move back to the corner. |
| How to press | Find the area, then probe it with a rounded-tip pressing tool or the tip of your thumb until one point stings. Rub that point in small circles. Sharp under the tool is right; pain that stays after you lift off is not. |
| How long | Three slow passes, about a minute per foot. Both feet. |
| Used for | Commonly used for tailbone ache, soreness that lingers after a fall onto the tailbone, and sciatica. |
| Skip it if | The back of the heel is swollen, hot or cracked, or you are pregnant. |
Quick steps: how to press the outer tailbone zone
- Sit with one foot resting on a low stool or across the opposite knee, outer side of the heel within reach.
- Wrap your hand round the heel so the fingertips lie on the outer back corner, at the edge of the sole.
- Walk the fingertips upward along the curve of the heel, a few millimetres at a time, to the base of the heel cord.
- Make three slow passes, then do the other foot the same way.
Where the Outer tailbone Zone Sits
Turn your foot so you can see its outer side. The round bone sticks out on the outside of the ankle, lower and further back than its partner on the inside. Below and behind it, the heel forms a rounded block. Where the back of that block turns the corner onto the outer side of the foot, a curved band runs from the sole upward. That band is the outer tailbone zone.
It starts at the edge of the sole, where the thick heel pad ends on the outer side. It curves up and slightly back along the outline of the heel and stops at the base of the thick cord behind the ankle (the Achilles tendon). It is about a thumb wide and a little longer than the top two joints of your thumb.
Under your fingers is the outer wall of the heel bone. A little forward of the band, two tendons wrap round behind the outer ankle bone and run along the side of the heel toward the outer edge of the foot. They belong to the muscles that steady the outer foot when you stand on uneven ground (the fibular muscles).
The skin here is supplied by a small nerve that runs down the back of the calf and passes behind the outer ankle bone (the sural nerve). Its last branches spread over the outer side of the heel. A small surface vein runs beside it in the same groove behind the ankle.
The tailbone itself, the part of the body this band is named for, is three to five tiny fused bones at the very bottom of the spine, below the sacrum. You feel it most when you lean back in a hard chair.
Why This Area
In foot reflexology the heel as a whole is mapped to the pelvis and the bottom of the spine. The inner edge of the foot carries the spine line, which reaches the sacrum on the side of the heel and the tailbone at its back corner. The manual we follow then places a second tailbone band on the outer back corner, as a mirror of the first.
This is a map, a set of correspondences between the foot and the body. It is not a statement that the outer heel is wired to the tailbone. What it gives you is a practical place to work, which you can reach easily, and which practitioners commonly use for tailbone ache.
The Vietnamese manual lists two uses for it: sciatica, and the lingering effects of an injury to the tailbone. Those are the same two it lists for the inner band, and that is why the two are worked as a pair.
Where This Map Comes From
Foot maps start with a book published in 1917. William Fitzgerald, an American ear, nose and throat doctor, wrote Zone Therapy with Edwin Bowers. They described ten long zones running through the body from head to toe, five on each side. Their claim was that firm pressure in one part of a zone could dull sensation in another part of it. The book is now in the public domain.
In the 1930s Eunice Ingham, an American therapist, concentrated on the feet and drew the detailed charts that most modern reflexology still uses. From the 1980s onward the method spread through Taiwan, mainland China and Vietnam. There, practitioners numbered the zones and divided the heel into several smaller areas, each with its own name.
The manual we follow was written by Nguyen Thanh Nhan in Hanoi in 2020, after a Chinese text by Gu Peide and Zhu Zuocai. It describes this zone as lying close against the outer edge of both heels, running toward the back as a band. The author adds one note from his practice: it does more for sciatica when the lower back strip on the inner arch is worked in the same session.
It is worth being plain about history. The classical Chinese medical texts contain no foot reflex zones. This is a modern system, about a hundred years old, and the details on this page come from a 2020 manual, not from antiquity.
Zones That Work With the Outer tailbone Zone
The inner tailbone band. The mirror of this one, round the inner back corner of the same heel. Work the two one after the other, inner then outer, so the whole back of the heel is covered. See the inner tailbone zone.
The buttock strip, on the underside of the outer heel. Turn the sole toward you. Along the outer border of the heel pad, where the sole starts to curve up the side, lies a short strip. It sits lower and further forward than this band. See the buttock zone.
The sciatic bands on the lower leg. From the hollow behind the outer ankle bone, a band climbs the back edge of the thin outer leg bone toward the knee. If your tailbone ache comes with a pull down the leg, add it. See the sciatic nerve zone.
How to Press the Outer tailbone Zone
The whole method, in three steps
1. Find the area shown on this page. You do not need to be exact yet.
2. Find the sharp point inside it. Probe slowly around the area with a rounded-tip pressing tool, or the tip of your thumb, until one place stings — a sharp, pinpoint “ouch”. That is your point.
3. Rub that point in small circles. One to three minutes. Less in the first sessions, more as the days go on. Sharp under the tool is right; pain that stays after you lift off is not.
Getting Into Position
The outer heel is awkward to reach on yourself. The easiest way is to sit in a firm chair and rest that foot on a low stool in front of you, turned slightly inward so the outer heel faces up. Then lean forward from the hips, only as far as your back allows.
If your hips are loose enough, you can instead cross the foot over the opposite knee and reach round behind the heel. If neither works, lie on your front with a pillow under your ankles and let a family member do it.
How to Find It
Put your thumb on the round bone on the outside of the ankle. Slide it straight down until you reach the heel, then back until you come to the corner where the side of the heel turns into its back. Drop down to the edge of the sole. You are at the bottom of the band.
From there, follow the outline of the heel upward and slightly backward. Stop where the hard heel gives way to the springy cord at the back of the ankle.
You are in the right place when you feel a sharp, pinpoint tenderness along a curved line. Most people find one spot along the curve that is clearly more tender than its neighbours. Spend a little longer there.
How to Press It
Reaching round the outside of the foot, your fingertips often work better than your thumb. Wrap your hand round the heel so the thumb rests on the inner side as a brace, and use the pads of the first two fingers on the outer band. That way you squeeze the heel rather than push it away.
Press in toward the heel bone, hold a moment, ease off and move up a few millimetres. Walk from the sole to the cord. Lift off, go back to the bottom and walk it again. Stay off the cord itself.
How Much Pressure
Firm and steady. The heel skin is thick, so you will need more pressure than on the arch, but aim for the one point that stings, no harder. Keep breathing normally; if you notice you are holding your breath, ease off. If you take blood-thinning medicine or bruise easily, use half the pressure.
How Long
Three slow passes, about a minute per foot. Do the inner band on the same foot, then both bands on the other foot. That is about four minutes. Once or twice a day is plenty.
When to Do It
Tailbone ache tends to be worst when you sit, when you lean back, and as you stand up. Work the heel in the evening, sitting down after the day's last jobs. Or do it after a long drive or a long sit on a hard seat. Leave at least an hour after a meal, and drink a glass of warm water afterwards.
What This Won't Do
It will not knit a cracked tailbone, move one that has been bent by a fall, or change the shape of the small joints at the bottom of the spine. Pressing the heel does not reach any of those things.
What people report is smaller. Sitting is a little more bearable. The deep ache at the base of the spine is quieter for a while. Standing up from a chair takes less bracing. Some notice nothing at first and something after a week or two of daily work. Some notice nothing at all, and that is a fair outcome to expect.
Tailbone pain sometimes has a cause that needs a doctor. Go if the pain started after a fall, particularly if you have thin bones. Go too for a tender, swollen or weeping lump near the top of the cleft between the buttocks, or pain with fever. Pain with changes in your bowel habit or bleeding needs checking, as does pain that has not eased after several weeks. Numbness between the legs or loss of bladder or bowel control means an emergency department today. Pressure work sits alongside medical care and does not replace any part of it.
Safety First
The source manual says this method is not suitable during pregnancy or while menstruating. Do not work it within an hour after a meal.
Leave the heel alone if it is swollen, hot, red or bruised, or if the cord behind the ankle hurts. If the heel skin is cracked or broken, do not press it; use the matching spot on the hand instead. If you have varicose veins or have had a blood clot in the leg, keep your hand off the groove behind the outer ankle bone.
With sciatica, the first few days of pressure work can leave the area more sore. That is common and not a reason to stop. Electric pain, spreading numbness or a weak leg are different: stop and get checked.
If you have diabetes, keep a session under 10 minutes and check your feet afterwards. If feeling in your feet is reduced, ask your doctor first. If you have kidney disease, keep the glass of water to about 150 ml. Read the full safety guide before you carry on.
Questions People Ask
Where is the outer tailbone reflex zone on the foot? On the outside of the heel, around its back corner. Start at the edge of the sole where the heel pad ends on the outer side, and follow the curve of the heel upward and backward toward the thick cord behind the ankle. That curved band is the zone.
Why are there two tailbone zones? The manual we follow places one on each back corner of the heel, inner and outer, and lists the same uses for both. It does not explain why, and we will not invent a reason. In practice, work them together, one after the other, on each foot.
Is this the same as the buttock zone? No, though they are neighbours. The buttock zone is a strip on the underside of the heel, along its outer border, where the sole starts to curve up the side. The outer tailbone band sits higher and further back, on the corner of the heel itself.
Which foot should I work? Both. The tailbone sits in the middle of the body, so in this system it is mapped on both feet. Do the outer and inner bands on one foot, then the same on the other.
The outside of my heel is very tender. Is something wrong? Usually not. The outer heel carries a lot of weight when you walk, and the skin and tissue there are often tender under firm pressure. If it is tender without pressing, swollen, hot or bruised, leave it and have it looked at.
Can someone else do it for me? Yes, and it is often easier. Lie on your front with a pillow under your ankles, or sit with your foot in their lap. They cup your heel and walk the band with a thumb while you stay relaxed.
Other Zones on the Foot
These zones sit close by on the same foot and are often worked in the same sitting.
Inner Tailbone Zone (Zone 57): Foot Reflexology for Tailbone Pain
Inner back corner of the heel, curving from the sole up toward the heel cord
Buttock Zone (Zone 63): Foot Reflexology for Buttock Pain
Outer border of the heel, on the underside of the foot
Sciatic Nerve Zone (Zone 62): Foot Reflexology for Sciatica
Inner and outer ankle, up the back of the lower leg
Read More
Sources
- Nguyen Thanh Nhan. Foot reflex zone manual (Hanoi, 2020), after Gu Peide and Zhu Zuocai.
- Fitzgerald, W. H. and Bowers, E. F. Zone Therapy. Columbus: I. W. Long, 1917.
This page shares general information about a traditional practice. It is not medical advice and does not replace what your doctor has given you. If you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or unsure whether this applies to you, check with your doctor first.
The whole inner edge of the foot, laid out on one page with photographs, is in The Foot Map — the free book. For every zone on the foot, see the full foot zone index.
Prefer to work on your hands? See the hand pressure point library — 15 points you can press with your thumb, sitting in a chair.
(Zone shown: 58 · Outer tailbone zone · Khu phản xạ Xương đuôi ngoài.)