Hip Flexor Pain From Squats

[Kol]

Hi, I'm 16 and I started Starting Strength around 4 months ago. This post might not have the anatomically correct terms and vocabulary but hopefully I'll be able to communicate myself clearly enough. Near the end of my third month, I started developing hip flexor pain when squatting, both in the inside and outside of my thigh. It only occured when coming out of the hole in squatting and when I would raise my leg at certain angles.

I've searched pages and pages of threads on this forum about this exact topic and come up with around 7 or 8 relevant results. They say that the pain comes from squatting with the knees coming too forward, a problem of mine that I have fixed now. However, the pain still remains. I took more than a month's break from squatting, yet still when I lift my leg at certain angles, the pain (albeit much less than when I was squatting) persists.

Should I just stay away from squats for a longer period of time? I don't want to start squatting again until it's fully healed and the pain is totally gone, but I don't know if it will even heal with time or whether I need some sort of treatment or medication. Also, what exactly is my injury? I can't tell if it's tendinitis or something else, and my knowledge in this area is limited. I can't go to a doctor about it because my parents are the psycho type that believe that weightlifting will kill me and if they knew that I had to go to the doctor, they would never let me touch a bar again. Plus, I know that all the doctor would say is 'stop weightlifting' thus further encouraging my parents to keep me away from the gym.

It's really frustrating not being able to squat and watching my quads shrivel away, hope you can help!

Thanks

[Roland Conde]

I was in a similar situation; I did the knees-forward-in-the-hole thing and developed some hip pain but didn't have the cash to go get a massage.

Squatting wrong gave you the problem. Squatting right will fix it. Have a friend watch you, or record yourself squatting to make sure you keep the form right.

If you can't warm up through the pain, I've found foam rolling/using a tennis ball on the area helps to get you squatting. I doubt you have a tendinitis, so fix your squat and all will be well.

[veryhrm]

A month off is prob long enough. Look into some hip flexor stretches if you haven't already. This is a good one to start with http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/str...M00043&slide=5

If it's something that developed gradually then it almost certainly IS some form of tendon inflammation, but that's fine, it'll get better.

Remember after a month off you should start PRETTY easy your first day or two. like if you were doing 250 or 315... start w/ the bar then do a set at 95 and a couple of sets at 135 and leave it at that. See how it feels the next day and you can prob go up in 10 or 20 lbs increments after that to get back to where you were.

BTW: did you post this in the "Repetitive Inquiries " topic yourself or was it moved here ? (I ask because until today i thought this forum was called "Repetitive inJuries" )

[Dragar]

I’ve recently had similar injury with similar cause. You basically have to squat with good form to fix it – just resting won’t help. As long as the pain is manageable and isn’t getting worse through your sets, it will help you heal. Start the weight very light and make sure your form is perfect, increasing slightly each workout as long as the pain doesn’t worsen. It will be frustrating lifting really light for ages, but better than not being able to squat at all. I’ve done this recently, deloaded way down to 40 kg, increasing 2.5kg making sure my knees are stationary at the bottom. It’s frustrating to lift so light, but the pain is gradually receding even as the load goes up.

[justadude]

Yep, I'm in the same boat. Due to squatting incorrectly and letting my knees shoot forward at the bottom I've developed a pretty solid case of hip flexor tendonitis and patella tendonitis (only left knee), which reared it's ugly and painful head during a quite successful 5x5 cycle about 4 months ago. I'm now in the process of taking a break from squats and front squats for about 3-4 weeks to let it all settle down a bit, and then will start over at the beginning again with baby weights and start to squat how mark advised me to. Very Frustrating, but really the only way forward for me.