Knee Pain Squatting, Back Pain Bench Pressing

[KNA]

I've recently developed pain in both my knees when squatting.
The pain is located at the top of my knee caps, I guess where the quads meet the knees. I don't notice it when I'm standing. It's tender to the touch, but it's borderline excruciating when squatting. It hurts when doing the squat stretch or even just sitting down on a chair.
I physically cannot do my squats as the pain is unbearable even with just the bar.
This post has a history of my form: http://startingstrength.com/resource...t=24402&page=1

I also have pain in my lower back when doing the bench press.
This picture shows where it hurts: http://i.imgur.com/ZUOgF.jpg notice it's not on the spine, but just to the side. It's not sore to the touch.
As soon as I get into position for bench and arch my back, I can feel the pain. This is not as acute as the knee pain, it seems like more of a chronic issue. I can work through it, but I continue to feel it after im finished lifting and throughout the day, and sometimes bothers me when im trying to sleep.

I'm wondering if anyone can suggest why I'm getting this pain and what kind of rehab should I expect? I'm hoping a week off will fix it, but as much as I HATE missing workouts, i've ignored this too long

Should I be icing anything, or does this sound serious enough to warrant a trip to doctor?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[KNA]

It's been a week. I still cannot do the squat stretch without pain in my knees, they don't feel better at all.
I'm going to bench today and see how the back is.

Anyone have any idea what I can do about my knees? I am getting severely depressed without squatting...

[yorick]

For the back issue on the bench press - do you have your feet flat on the ground while benching? It seems like any time I've had some back pain in that spot it was from a somewhat uneven setup. Could be that you are somehow favoring one side of your body during the lift - one arm going higher, one foot off the floor more than the other, or something else, causing some odd torque in that area. This is all really just speculation.

I don't have any advice regarding your knees. Considering how much your squat was analyzed in previous threads, if I were you, I would consider switching to a type of squat that feels more intuitive after the knees have healed. What I mean is that some people find the high bar squat to be easier to learn / less complex. It might help you figure out if your knee deal is truly technique related or if you just have some fucked up knees for some reason. For me, I really dig front squats more than back squats - heresy, I know.

[Carlos Daniel]

I'm just throwing the idea out there but ibuprofen and knee wraps may help with the knees.

[KNA]

Could be that you are somehow favoring one side of your body during the lift - one arm going higher, one foot off the floor more than the other, or something else, causing some odd torque in that area.

This would make sense, actually. When I am struggling with working set I will sometimes have one of my feet come off the ground or the bar raise unevenly. I never associated that with the back pain. In the future i will be especially careful when increasing weights and be sure to keep everything tight and form in check.

I'm just throwing the idea out there but ibuprofen and knee wraps may help with the knees.

I've considered this. Is this a temporary fix just to help with the pain until they heal, or will I need to take ibuprofen and wrap my knees for the rest of the my life?

[Carlos Daniel]

I've considered this. Is this a temporary fix just to help with the pain until they heal, or will I need to take ibuprofen and wrap my knees for the rest of the my life?

No idea. Well, it's not like it's gonna hurt or anything, just try it. Ibuprofen is 3200mg for 5 days, no more, no less. Knee wraps don't have a time limit.

[blowdpanis]

If a week off had no effect on how painful your knees are, I think a trip to the doctor is warranted.

Out of curiosity, have you tried any soft tissue treatment of your IT bands or quads? This can be really, really helpful for the sort of anterior knee pain you're describing. I'll link a couple of videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edtQFM0XZ-E

Also, consider taking something like a tennis ball to the tender spot, and doing some poor man's active release, like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAuv9BUq_yY

[Gunnhild Bruno]

If a week off had no effect on how painful your knees are, I think a trip to the doctor is warranted.

If you haven't tried anti-inflammatories like Ibuprofen, I think a trip to the doctor is premature. You might just be susceptible to quad tendinitis.

Is this a temporary fix just to help with the pain until they heal, or will I need to take ibuprofen and wrap my knees for the rest of the my life?

I used to get quad tendinitis all the time. I got a rx for Naproxen (OTC brand name in the U.S. is Aleve) from my doctor and used it as needed, which occurred with less and less frequency. Eventually, it stopped being a problem. Probably a combination of getting stronger and just adapting to that kind of stress.

I would think that switching to high bar would actually aggravate quad tendinitis more than a low bar squat. But of course, the body is complex and this may not necessarily be true for you. All the same, I think switching form is premature as well at this point.

And, as blowdpanis suggests, massage can be very helpful.

[KNA]

Out of curiosity, have you tried any soft tissue treatment of your IT bands or quads? This can be really, really helpful for the sort of anterior knee pain you're describing. I'll link a couple of videos:

Although I've read a lot about foam rolling, I've never tried it myself. I was unaware it could help with such injuries. I've watched the video's and I will definitely give this a go. Any idea how much I should expect to pay for one of the rollers? it looks slightly less tedious than using the tennis ball and as long as the price is reasonable I'll go that route.

Thanks very much for the advice.

[Carlos Daniel]

Although I've read a lot about foam rolling, I've never tried it myself. I was unaware it could help with such injuries. I've watched the video's and I will definitely give this a go. Any idea how much I should expect to pay for one of the rollers? it looks slightly less tedious than using the tennis ball and as long as the price is reasonable I'll go that route.

Thanks very much for the advice.

A rolling pin or a pvc pipe is the poor (and masochistic) man's foam roller. It works wonder on muscle, dunno about tendons.