Hi, I've been doing SS for the past few weeks to get my strength back up and just developed a problem. I am having severe pain in the crease of my hip/thigh/groin area. It only hurts when squatting or doing any type of hip abduction. I was fine last saturday and squatted 285x3x5 without any pain. Now I cant even do a bodyweight squat.
I believe I read in another post that letting your knees go forward at the bottom of the squat could cause something like this and I'm pretty sure that I do.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, otherwise I'll be forced to ask my doctor his opinion and that never goes very well.
Without a precise picture of exactly where the pain is, I can't tell you much, except to say that the pain you describe is typically not associated with a hernia. Take a picture or find a way to illustrate the precise location.
I've had a similar problem. (NOTE: This is a self diagnosis.) For me it started with a tight IT band. It eventually developed into tight, inflamed psoas that lead to a strained quadratus lumborum. After vigorous self trigger point/myofascial release and going to a professional, I have the psoa/QL problem under control, but it is not gone. However I developed a nasty painful tightness of the TFL and gluteus medius. This seems to have developed from the loss of "knees out" habit due to the psoa issue. After some vicious self trigger point/myofascial release and relearning "knees out" the TFL/gluteus medius issue seems to be going away.
The tight psoas actually limited my range of motion for my squat, primarily on my right side. If I took a regular stance and pushed my knees out, I would actually bounce off of my psoas in the bottom of the squat. This further tightened the psoas which connect at the spine, pulling on it. This foward pull of the spine is counteracted by the quadratus lumborum. Pain/tightness in the psoa also tended to make me round my back on the right side, which caused the QL strain.
I think, but I am not sure that the TFL/glute med/IT band can be irritated by wiggly or collapsing knees in the squat, but I am not sure.
It sounds like you are describing a hip flexor issue. Try this hip flexor stretch: http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFle...HipFlexor.html
but point your toe on your back foot into the ground so that the lower leg is elevated. If the tightness is primarily on the outside of the hip, it is the TFL. If it is on the inside near the groin, it is the psoa.
If you want to double check on the psoa, do the same stretch but place your forward knee out to the side more and if necessary tilt your pelvis so that the top points more toward the side that has the knee on the ground. You should really feel it in your psoa then.
If you want to double check the TFL do this stretch: http://www.easyvigour.net.nz/fitness/h_TFL_StrSt.htm
If the tightness/pain is more towards the front side then its the TFL. If it is more towards the back side it may be the gluteus medius. To double check for gluteus medius do a modified stretch for the TFL. Cross your legs like before but bend over like you are doing a hamstring stretch. Push your hips to the side with the leg behind. This should hit the glute medius better. If your TFL is tight you will still feel it in your TFL, but if your TFL is tight enough you wont even feel the glute med stretch.