Hip rotation/body rotating to the side while squatting

[ljs102]

Mr. Rippetoe,
I've been having trouble with my squats for a while now. Back in October I noticed myself shifting/rotating my body to the right side while squatting down. I'd been squatting with what I thought was good form about a year and figured this might be due to an injury, as I am playing lacrosse for my university. I got checked out and I turned out to have both a lateral and medial meniscus tear, one of which I got trimmed in early November.

Now I am supposedly just about fully rehabbed and prepared to get back into heavy work with my legs, and I have been looking forward to try squatting. My problem is, my hips still rotate to the right. This is extremely frustrating, because I can perform most other lower body exercises with good form, I just cannot seem to fix my squats. I have some videos that I took to show my team trainer and doctor from before my surgery, and my form looks pretty much exactly the same as it did when this video was taken, except I have slowed down going down and become much more aware of where my hips are going.

Here are the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjJ5fDSJNBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMnejgYOEBc

Thanks so much for your help,
Louis

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thing 1: If I read this correctly, you got a meniscus tear repaired that you didn't even know you had. I have at least 3 meniscus tears, and I'm not going to let anybody inside my joint capsule unless there is a mechanical impingement caused by a displacement of an edge of one of the tears. But if this happens I'll know before an MRI tells me. This seems imprudent to me, repairing things that are not causing and will not cause significant problems. Your squat rotation is caused by your having allowed your knee to cave it at the bottom, and I don't know that I'd have had surgery to fix that.


Thing 2: If you have knee problems, why are you still using the high-bar squat instead of the low-bar position?

[ljs102]

Thing 1: If I read this correctly, you got a meniscus tear repaired that you didn't even know you had. I have at least 3 meniscus tears, and I'm not going to let anybody inside my joint capsule unless there is a mechanical impingement caused by a displacement of an edge of one of the tears. But if this happens I'll know before an MRI tells me. This seems imprudent to me, repairing things that are not causing and will not cause significant problems. Your squat rotation is caused by your having allowed your knee to cave it at the bottom, and I don't know that I'd have had surgery to fix that.


Thing 2: If you have knee problems, why are you still using the high-bar squat instead of the low-bar position?

Thanks a lot coach. I guess I do regret getting the surgery at this point, but what's done is done and I have to deal with it. I showed my doctor the same video and he assumed that the tear was the explanation for my squatting issue. I will switch to the low bar position when I attempt to squat, but do you believe it is safe to squat if my hips are rotating? I'm still confused as to how I should make adjustments. Thanks a lot for your help.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'd get a coach to help, but this time make sure it's not your orthopedic surgeon.