Quad Issues while squatting!

Hi guys,

About 2/3 months ago whilst squatting I felt a particularly sharp pain in my right quad. Roughly 2/3 inches above and to the right of my knee cap (Vastus Lateralis) I think. I immediately stopped squatting, and ended up not doing any squats for 2 to 4 weeks. There was no visual sign of a tear or any bruising or blood. It was very sore and hard to do things for about 1 week and then slowly got better.



Yesterday whilst squatting I began to feel a similar feeling but not nearly as bad. It didn’t feel great, but not bad enough and I finished my sets. Today it’s tight and quite sore. I really would love some opinions on A) how to prevent it from continuing to happen! Is it bad technique? Bad luck? A way to stretch it prior to try to prevent this? B) Have any of you had a similar issue with the same muscle while squatting?! I really don’t want this to hold me back from continuing to grow my squat. I know injuries are going to occur and that’s just the way it is, but I just feel like if it keeps happening in the same place there is an obvious reason for it that I don’t know about?!

Thanks in advance for any type of guidance or advice.

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Originally Posted by Brad Cuzz

Hi guys,

About 2/3 months ago whilst squatting I felt a particularly sharp pain in my right quad. Roughly 2/3 inches above and to the right of my knee cap (Vastus Lateralis) I think. I immediately stopped squatting, and ended up not doing any squats for 2 to 4 weeks. There was no visual sign of a tear or any bruising or blood. It was very sore and hard to do things for about 1 week and then slowly got better.



Yesterday whilst squatting I began to feel a similar feeling but not nearly as bad. It didn’t feel great, but not bad enough and I finished my sets. Today it’s tight and quite sore. I really would love some opinions on A) how to prevent it from continuing to happen! Is it bad technique? How are we going to be able to ascertain that without a video of your squat? Bad luck? Who knows? Maybe....maybe not. A way to stretch it prior to try to prevent this? Stretching prior to strength training MAY increase the injury rate, but more reliably has been shown to reduce performance. B) Have any of you had a similar issue with the same muscle while squatting?I think everyone has had at least some pain with training.! I really don’t want this to hold me back from continuing to grow my squat. I know injuries are going to occur and that’s just the way it is, but I just feel like if it keeps happening in the same place there is an obvious reason for it that I don’t know about?!There is probably a good explanation for it, and this explanation is likely to be either technique or programming.

Thanks in advance for any type of guidance or advice.

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Responses in text in bold.

Will,

Here’s a video of my most recent squat session!


YouTube


I do understand that some pain is just a part of training, in this case though it is most certainly more than that and will prevent me from squatting at least heavy. Last time I stupidly tried to push through the pain, and that’s when I really strained it good.


Have a look and let me know what you think!


Thanks, Brad

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brad Cuzz

Will,

Here’s a video of my most recent squat session!


YouTube


I do understand that some pain is just a part of training, in this case though it is most certainly more than that and will prevent me from squatting at least heavy. Last time I stupidly tried to push through the pain, and that’s when I really strained it good.


Have a look and let me know what you think!


Thanks, Brad

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Well, knees caving in during ascent certainly doesn't help.

A couple of things that jump out immediately:

1) You are not getting set prior to the repetition. There is no change in your back, as I see no deliberate effort to set your lower back with an isometric extension movement. You are definitely not performing a proper Valsalva, as I should be able to hear you take in a large breath. Performing a "karate hi-ya" is not the same thing. I think this most certainly leads into #2

2) Your knees are all over the place here. They slam back too early in the first rep or two, and by the third rep, you are letting both knees collapse in and you almost do a bit of the Australian river dance coming out of the hole. This is going to be cured by making a deliberate effort to keep your knees out after the rebound. Actively push your knees out going down and hold them out coming up until about half way up. Tendon and myotendinous junction does not like rotational components and your femurs going into internal rotation secondary to loss of active abduction and external rotation is going to be problematic.

3) If you clean those up, then just modify your sets and reps and perform shorter sets and increase the total number of sets. In-set fatigue is public enemy number 1 with musculoskeletal injuries in the gym. Reduce your reps to 2 reps, and perform 7 sets with as heavy a load as you feel comfortable doing. Increase this weight each session until your doubles get close to what your original working weight was. Then, start adding reps per set until you are back to your regularly scheduled program.

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Originally Posted by Brad Cuzz

in this case though it is most certainly more than that

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Could you kindly elaborate on this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Will Morris

A couple of things that jump out immediately:

1) You are not getting set prior to the repetition. There is no change in your back, as I see no deliberate effort to set your lower back with an isometric extension movement. You are definitely not performing a proper Valsalva, as I should be able to hear you take in a large breath. Performing a "karate hi-ya" is not the same thing. I think this most certainly leads into #2

2) Your knees are all over the place here. They slam back too early in the first rep or two, and by the third rep, you are letting both knees collapse in and you almost do a bit of the Australian river dance coming out of the hole. This is going to be cured by making a deliberate effort to keep your knees out after the rebound. Actively push your knees out going down and hold them out coming up until about half way up. Tendon and myotendinous junction does not like rotational components and your femurs going into internal rotation secondary to loss of active abduction and external rotation is going to be problematic.

3) If you clean those up, then just modify your sets and reps and perform shorter sets and increase the total number of sets. In-set fatigue is public enemy number 1 with musculoskeletal injuries in the gym. Reduce your reps to 2 reps, and perform 7 sets with as heavy a load as you feel comfortable doing. Increase this weight each session until your doubles get close to what your original working weight was. Then, start adding reps per set until you are back to your regularly scheduled program.

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Will do! Thanks Will

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Will Morris

Could you kindly elaborate on this?

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Well you said “I think everyone has had at least some pain with training” I obviously agree with the fact that no matter what, you’ll have aches or pains to varying degree throughout training.

My point was just that in my opinion, whats going on with my leg is not your typical “ache” or “pain” that’s all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brad Cuzz

Well you said “I think everyone has had at least some pain with training” I obviously agree with the fact that no matter what, you’ll have aches or pains to varying degree throughout training.

My point was just that in my opinion, whats going on with my leg is not your typical “ache” or “pain” that’s all.

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This is just my way of getting people to think about what is going on. Understanding some of these things on a deeper level will certainly aid you in your continued training.

So, what evidence do we have that this is something more serious than a kind of routine myofascial pain presentation?

I used to have quad pain. It was painful to squat the empty bar. A dull stiff pain through the whole leg, and sharp at different spots. Sometimes the sharp pain would change location. I thought maybe I should do a starr rehab kinda thing. Didn't work. Squatting wouldn't make it better, but it also didn't seem to get worse, so I just decided to train heavy again. Then it just started to go away one day. Now it's 90% better 3 years from when it started.

I've also had hamstring problems. My hamstrings would feel like they were tearing apart when I deadlifted. I couldn't progress anymore because I'd be warming up and immediately have that tearing feeling, and was convinced I would hurt myself. The thing that has helped me are nordic hamstring curls (maybe you have to google). Felt the same tearing sensation with them, but as I progressed the pain got better and better. Now I'm finally semi-confidently deadlifting heavy again and have set new PRs, but there is still a mild tearing feeling and I wouldn't trust my legs with attempting a 1RM yet.

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread -- just wanted to add in my experiences with "mystery pain".