squat & knee pain (+ uneven bar)

[Ken]

Hi Rip,

about a month ago I had this intense, 'dragging' pain in my knee when squatting. The pain occurred mostly at the front (+ a bit at the top) of my right patella. (Felt it in the left as well, but a lot less worse.) Haven't been to the doctor but took about two weeks off from squatting (did only deadlifts, presses, bench presses). While resting my knees, I read a lot of stuff on knee pain, which might not have been a good idea. Anyways, this brought me to executing the squat with a more pronounced sit back (shins almost vertical). At first I was quite happy since I had no more knee pain in the following training sessions.

Some days ago I posted videos on the forum to have my squat form checked. Now the guys rightfully pointed out, that I'm unlocking my hips way before my knees (resulting in a quite vertical shin position). I tried to correct that by simultaneously unlocking hips and knees, with the result that the damn knee pain came back again.

Now the thing is that neither squatting with the wrong technique nor with this kind of knee pain can be right. Any hints what I'm doing wrong or what might be the cause for my knee pain? (Dunno about a good sports doctor around here, so I guess that would be a waste of time.)

The original thread with my squat videos is here:
http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=22655

Most probably unrelated but I would like to ask it as well: I recently noticed that my barbell (a Texas Power Bar) is a bit uneven. The distance from the marks (rings) to the sleeves is about a centimeter farther at one of the sides. Since I use the rings to position my hands in almost all lifts (esp. squatting and benching) can this be a problem or is this small difference neglectable?

Sorry for the long post. If you need any further details just let me know. I appreciate your help very much!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Most random knee pain can be fixed with knees-out. Narrow your stance, exaggerate your knees-out at the bottom, and see what happens.

[Ken]

Mark, thank you for your answer! My knee got a little better the past few days, but when I'm standing or hold it in a fixed position for a long time, it acts up. (The funny thing is that shaking my leg seems to relieve the pain..)

I tried to narrow my stance and push my knees out in yesterdays workout. In the few warmup sets I did, I had the impression the pain was worse with the closer foot placement. But then again I think my form is worse with a closer stance.

I think I will wait a few days until my knee calms down and reset the weight a little. (Only deadlifting and pressing.) Currently treating with ice and some anti-inflammatory (Voltaren). It's really frustrating to reset again! I thought my form got better recently..

[Ken]

Forgot to ask in my last post: Do I need to worry about the uneven bar? It's not that easy to get a new one around here, but I would try to replace it if it will be a problem with heavier loads.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can you not remark the bar for some reason? Paint marker?