hips hurt from squats?

[mbaoo]

Hi guys, I'm not sure where to post this so I am putting it here.

Just a little background, I have been lifting weights for about 4 years, nothing too serious, just lifting iron.

I recently started doing starting strenth and its been helping a ton.

About a week and a half ago, not sure exactly when, my hips at the crease (hip flexors?) started to hurt a little when I go down. They dont bother me at all when stand or walking around, they only hurt when I go down to around parallel. Its at the crease of the hip, almost a crushing feeling.

I do not want to get injured so I havnt squated/deadlifted in about a week and a half and the pain isnt going away.

I have tried some stretching and it seems to only make it feel worse, not better. I bought a foam roller today to see if this will help.

I dont think my form is the issue, I keep strict form. Bend first at the hips(not the knees), sit back, knees dont go in, sit on the heels and then go back up.

Help?

[bigbadblaine]

Hi guys, I'm not sure where to post this so I am putting it here.

Just a little background, I have been lifting weights for about 4 years, nothing too serious, just lifting iron.

I recently started doing starting strenth and its been helping a ton.

About a week and a half ago, not sure exactly when, my hips at the crease (hip flexors?) started to hurt a little when I go down. They dont bother me at all when stand or walking around, they only hurt when I go down to around parallel. Its at the crease of the hip, almost a crushing feeling.

I do not want to get injured so I havnt squated/deadlifted in about a week and a half and the pain isnt going away.

I have tried some stretching and it seems to only make it feel worse, not better. I bought a foam roller today to see if this will help.

I dont think my form is the issue, I keep strict form. Bend first at the hips(not the knees), sit back, knees dont go in, sit on the heels and then go back up.

Help?

I had the same thing with my right hip but it started when I went heay on deads then it made it's way over to my squats. I layed off heavy deadlifts for a few weeks and started box squating (below parallel). Now I make sure to strech it as best I can and even do a few minute of cardio just to get the blood flowing before any leg work. I still have some pain but not as bad as it once was.

[GeneralSerpant]

How do you squat? straight-up back? How wide is your stance? low bar or high bar? Not one combination of these qualities is appropriate to every squatter.

[truffles]

Trochanteric Bursitis

dealing with it right now.

[EPMD]

I had this. Time/rest fixed it. I stopped squatting for a few months. I eventually eased myself back into squatting, focusing on warming up more thoroughly, and the pain never came back. You can't fix an injury by training through the pain.

[mbaoo]

How do you squat? straight-up back? How wide is your stance? low bar or high bar? Not one combination of these qualities is appropriate to every squatter.

I dont know what you mean by "straight-up back".

I dont know if I have it low or high bar. But I rest it on the traps. I flex my upper back and bring my arms in and then position myself under the bar pre-flexed. I puff my chest up and butt out to arch my back and I go down moving the butt back first and then the knees. My stance is shoulder width with my feet out at id guess 20-30 degrees. Best way to describe it without making a video. And since my hips are hurting, Im not going to make a video.

It feels comfortable when I squat, not awkward or anything, my back never rolls, I can arch it really well and I go to parallel, never any knee pain. I sorta pull my toes up to keep myself on my heels.

[Engineer_Guy]

I've had similar pain. Better warm ups and stretching periodically during the day helped. In particular I would use the "squat stretch" which is basically squatting down and holding the bottom portion of the squat without any weights.

[TheKoiCarp]

see if you can trigger the same pain/tightness using this stretch:



if so it is defo the hip flexor that is the problem, if it feels tight then heat and stretching will help alleviate it

[mbaoo]

Just started squatting again after being off of it for 5 months. And guess what, I still feel the same thing!

I dont understand. Its only my left side. I have been stretching and foam rolling. Maybe I need more hip specific stretches. Are there any warm ups?

Its at the crease of the hips. In the hole, it feels like something is being compressed or squeezed in my hip.

[turkeyhawk]

I had the same thing for a month or so. What helped me was sitting with the bottoms of my feet together and pulled towards my crotch, then push down on my knees for about 5 minutes a day. I worked through the pain and continued the squats, not sure if it was wise or not. I would also do a set of bar only ATG squats and dwell at the bottom for about 10 sec. each rep. Then continue with warmup sets. After about a month its gone. If it persists, maybe go see a doc. Good luck

[Retoaded]

had it bad also and I could only get halfway down. squat to stand stretch and sprinters stretches every day the last 5 or 6 weeks and once I got flexible I reset back down to 135 and now I can barely feel it and I am squatting comfortably below parallel and moving back up in weight easier than I did the first time doing BS squats.

[mbaoo]

I had the same thing for a month or so. What helped me was sitting with the bottoms of my feet together and pulled towards my crotch, then push down on my knees for about 5 minutes a day.

I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Can you go into a lil more detail?

I did see a doc and a physical therapist. They were both useless. Doc said tendonitis and said some people just arent meant to squat. Never went back to see him after that. Saw a pt a few times and he decided it was because my lower back curves in at the bottom and that I over arch my back. I did all his posture exercises and they did nothing. I am convinced they dont understand what I am experiencing. Thats why I keep asking here because I believe you guys will be more help than the "professionals".

[quiktrp]

[QUOTE=mbaoo;827879281]I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Can you go into a lil more detail? QUOTE]

sit with your butt on the floor like in the stereotypical meditation position, but instead of overlapping your legs, put the bottoms of your feet together. Then draw your feet in maybe 12-18" from your crotch. If your not flexible, your knees will be way off the floor at this point. Gently push your knees towards the floor and try and maintain this for 5 minutes or so. If you still cant picture it I'll try and find a video of it on youtube. I kinda remember doing this stretch in grade school gym class, but it helped me immensely with the squat pain. I think for me it was some kind of hip flexor tendonitis.

[turkeyhawk]

sorry, turkeyhawk=quiktrp. Its an old login I didn't realize was still active.

[zeetip]

Hi guys, I'm not sure where to post this so I am putting it here.

Just a little background, I have been lifting weights for about 4 years, nothing too serious, just lifting iron.

I recently started doing starting strenth and its been helping a ton.

About a week and a half ago, not sure exactly when, my hips at the crease (hip flexors?) started to hurt a little when I go down. They dont bother me at all when stand or walking around, they only hurt when I go down to around parallel. Its at the crease of the hip, almost a crushing feeling.

I do not want to get injured so I havnt squated/deadlifted in about a week and a half and the pain isnt going away.

I have tried some stretching and it seems to only make it feel worse, not better. I bought a foam roller today to see if this will help.

I dont think my form is the issue, I keep strict form. Bend first at the hips(not the knees), sit back, knees dont go in, sit on the heels and then go back up.

Help?

a dude had the exact same issue in another thread and i struggled with the same thing.

check your breathing. suck in before you descend, keep your core tight, and when you get down, exhale on the way up. make sure you're controlled when you go down. my back was rounding because i wasn't keeping my core tight on the way down and the lack of core support was affecting my hip flexors.

[keepgoingNOW]

it may be what the others have said... but i had a similar issue also. it only bothered me on squats, it felt like the pain was right in the hip socket, just a tearing-searing pain. i went to a few doctors and they sent me to a specialist (cant remember what his professional name was). for me it was where a part of my abdoman was not working as good as it should of and the Siox (i think thats how its spelled, imagine the hipflexor but on the back of your hips) were overcompensating. because they were overworking trying to stabilize my body and continue to do my workload on squats they were overstressed and calling upon the hip flexor to help.

what he had me do to fix this was to lie own upon the ground, on my back with my knees bent at ninety degrees. then i would proceed to tighten my core (imagine sucking in your gut but without raising your ribcage). there was a rolled up towell underneath the curve of my back, while keeping the core tight i would press my back as flat against the towell (try only to use your core muscles, youl want to keep your hamstring loose) and hold it down for five seconds. that would be one rep and i would need to do 10 reps twice a day.

i did this for two months and my hip problem was gone and could squat more than before.

sorry if its hard to understand, writing is not my strongsuit but feel free to pm me for a better explaination

[mbaoo]

[QUOTE=quiktrp;827904001]

I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Can you go into a lil more detail? QUOTE]

sit with your butt on the floor like in the stereotypical meditation position, but instead of overlapping your legs, put the bottoms of your feet together. Then draw your feet in maybe 12-18" from your crotch. If your not flexible, your knees will be way off the floor at this point. Gently push your knees towards the floor and try and maintain this for 5 minutes or so. If you still cant picture it I'll try and find a video of it on youtube. I kinda remember doing this stretch in grade school gym class, but it helped me immensely with the squat pain. I think for me it was some kind of hip flexor tendonitis.

Ahh. I know what your talking about, my gym teacher had us do those. Ill give them a try.

[mbaoo]

Wow! So I did 5 reps of the squat to stand to stand stretches and then did what quiktrp said and my hips feel amazing! They were still hurting before and I did a few airsquats after with much less pain. Thanks so much!

I hope this is the ticket for me. I'll be doing those every day. Maybe twice a day.

[chazzy1864]

Two things.

1. Do a search for threads created by djartek. The title has something to do with mobility/flexibility. He is a thread filled with information on various stretches and exercises to help you.

2. I think your issue is most likely weak adductors (if it feels like your groin muscles are stretching/tearing when you're in the hole). Warm up with the good girl (adductor) machine before you squat.

At the end of your leg days (and I'd suggest on other days as well) go heavier on the machine to strengthen your adductors. If that is, in fact, the culprit, you should notice improvement within a week (the warming up with adductor does wonders in itself).

Article on the subject:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...n_by_adduction

[mbaoo]

Two things.

1. Do a search for threads created by djartek. The title has something to do with mobility/flexibility. He is a thread filled with information on various stretches and exercises to help you.

2. I think your issue is most likely weak adductors (if it feels like your groin muscles are stretching/tearing when you're in the hole). Warm up with the good girl (adductor) machine before you squat.

At the end of your leg days (and I'd suggest on other days as well) go heavier on the machine to strengthen your adductors. If that is, in fact, the culprit, you should notice improvement within a week (the warming up with adductor does wonders in itself).

Article on the subject:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...n_by_adduction

Sorry for the retardedly late response. Abductor is the one where you press your legs apart right? I google imaged it and I saw pictures of both the squeezing one and pressing away one.

[chazzy1864]

Sorry for the retardedly late response. Abductor is the one where you press your legs apart right? I google imaged it and I saw pictures of both the squeezing one and pressing away one.

yes, abductor is open your legs (bad girl), adductor (what I told you to focus on) is where you close your legs together (good girl).

[crupiea]

I had it for a while and of course the heavier the weight and deper in the hole I was the more it hurt. The worst possible time.

What i did was do some warm ups then do a couch stretch. just midly nothing killer. I stretch it for about 15 seconds, let off for about the same time and do it again. Do this about 6 stretches worth.

You will probably notice that at first you wont even feel it in your hips flexors but in your quad. this is part of the problem. Just keep working with it and in short order you will feel it in your hip flexors.

It took a couple of weeks for it to start getting better but I kept squatting the whole time. Taking time off seemed to stiffen it up.

[mbaoo]

Ive been doing the squats and stretching and it seemed fine for the first week and a half. But today it hurt just like it used too. Its been slowly building up again. At first I swore it was just doms. But I think its the same thing as before.

Ive found that the weight isnt even a factor. Its just the angle I guess. I tried low and high bar and still felt it. Now that I have some good stretching and hip exercise ideas. Im gonna really focus on loosening up my hips and see how I am in march.

[scottyent]

Ive been doing the squats and stretching and it seemed fine for the first week and a half. But today it hurt just like it used too. Its been slowly building up again. At first I swore it was just doms. But I think its the same thing as before.

Ive found that the weight isnt even a factor. Its just the angle I guess. I tried low and high bar and still felt it. Now that I have some good stretching and hip exercise ideas. Im gonna really focus on loosening up my hips and see how I am in march.

good to see you are doing well back in it, but now that you are, try and take a video to post up. Some little form issues could be causing your problems, although the flexibility is a great place to start! If you feel the pain during the squat, maybe try taking the weight down quite a bit, compeltely focusing on form and getting loose, and build yourself back up to where you were. That way, you can keep squatting, which can help you get the flexibility you need, and when you build back up to where you are now you'll feel better than ever!

[mbaoo]

good to see you are doing well back in it, but now that you are, try and take a video to post up. Some little form issues could be causing your problems, although the flexibility is a great place to start! If you feel the pain during the squat, maybe try taking the weight down quite a bit, compeltely focusing on form and getting loose, and build yourself back up to where you were. That way, you can keep squatting, which can help you get the flexibility you need, and when you build back up to where you are now you'll feel better than ever!

I hate to keep bumping this thread. But I figured I may as well post an update. Ive stopped squatting again completely. The same pain has come back even with all the stretching and abductor machine stuff. I only feel it in the squat position. I can dead lift just fine. I can hold one of these stretches just fine. It just when squatting and when I reach the bottom. The weight load isnt a factor. I feel it when airsquatting too. It seems like inflamation because once it starts to hurt it hurts all the time. Its not only on workout days. Its every day till it gets better. I could not squat for a full week and then attempt a squat and it will feel exactly the same as it did the week prior. Im really about to give up the idea of ever squatting.

[sa1f]

it may be what the others have said... but i had a similar issue also. it only bothered me on squats, it felt like the pain was right in the hip socket, just a tearing-searing pain. i went to a few doctors and they sent me to a specialist (cant remember what his professional name was). for me it was where a part of my abdoman was not working as good as it should of and the Siox (i think thats how its spelled, imagine the hipflexor but on the back of your hips) were overcompensating. because they were overworking trying to stabilize my body and continue to do my workload on squats they were overstressed and calling upon the hip flexor to help.

what he had me do to fix this was to lie own upon the ground, on my back with my knees bent at ninety degrees. then i would proceed to tighten my core (imagine sucking in your gut but without raising your ribcage). there was a rolled up towell underneath the curve of my back, while keeping the core tight i would press my back as flat against the towell (try only to use your core muscles, youl want to keep your hamstring loose) and hold it down for five seconds. that would be one rep and i would need to do 10 reps twice a day.

i did this for two months and my hip problem was gone and could squat more than before.

sorry if its hard to understand, writing is not my strongsuit but feel free to pm me for a better explaination

Well this is simply for posterity, but I've noticed that engaging my abs (suck in air, squeeze abs) as I squat alleviates the described pain from my hip.

[RagingVeins]

Try narrowing your stance and focus on putting your weight on your heels, and see if that helps. If stretching and that doesn't help, I'd take it easy for a while.

[PaulRivers]

I had a very similar problem, and DeFranco's Limber 11 helped me - a *lot* -
http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask...y-routine.html

It was the only thing that did. Just resting and letting it heal wasn't helping.

I think I had a torn labrum, based on the symptoms. It took a year for it to go away, doing the above, then I started using this ("The Orb") -
http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Tec-Athlet...ywords=the+orb

I used it to massage the muscles where Limber 11 wasn't hitting.

[sdoking]

To anyone who ends up at this thread looking for answers, I had the exact same issue. My Doctors and Physios eventually agreed it was labrum-related. It took a good half year before I could squat again. The problem with this area is that certain parts (perhaps even most of the labrum) are avascular (there is very little blood that gets to them,) so healing is protracted.

One very important thing to be aware of: if you have chronic or acute injuries in the hip/groin area from squatting, you may have a Femoral acetabular impingement. It is a fairly common condition wherein either your femoral head or hip socket (or both) are malformed and pinch your labrum, causing ALL KINDS of misfortune. I know this isn't a popular opinion, but it is generally accepted (medically speaking) that a person with FAI truly cannot squat - doing so will wear down their labrum and acetabular surfaces causing osteoarthritis in no time flat. They would need surgery beforehand which wouldn't guarantee good function, and which would take a LONG time to heal as per the above-mentioned avascularity of the area. Not meaning to sound negative, just wish someone told me I might have this when I started investigating my chronic hip pains from squatting years ago. If you are suffering from OP's symptoms, go bug your doc for an xray/CT and let them know you suspect FAI. You get to rule that out and any other impingement or mechanically related issues to boot so that you can rehab and keep squatting with confidence.