Hip Flexor strain/tear from squats, Lower left back muscle strain/tear, why?

[Uglybass]

OK, the first injury I sustained was the lower left back strain/tear. I say both because I don't know which one it truly is, but I am leaning towards tear since it happened back in October. I was doing overhead press, pull ups and oblique bends and the next day I had a bad muscle spasm in my external oblique area. I work in a clinic so I can talk to a doctor any time I want to, and the doctor gave me some muscle relaxers and told me to take it easy. I took a week off and it hurt pretty bad the whole time, but I went back to lifting anyway. The pain still lingers when I overhead press, but not from any other movement. I can get through the lift if I wear a belt, otherwise it's very painful. I have no idea what caused it or if I should follow up on it again.

The hip flexor happened about a month ago, I was relearning squats and going deep when I felt an immediate sharp pain in my right hip flexor area (the very top of my leg, basically right down the middle of it, the top of the rectus femoris?). I figured it was just some stretching pains so I finished my lift, but the pain persisted the next day. It disappeared fairly soon after but next time I went to squat, same pain from going deep. I didn't squat for two weeks, just did some other leg exercises with machines and bodyweight stuff (Glute ham raises). I went to squat last week, did a set at 205lbs with a lot of pain the whole time. Next day it was still very painful (also got the terrible soreness from not doing the lift for awhile and going into a heavy weight) but I shrugged it off. I went to squat today, and the pain was just too much even with an unloaded bar, I did deadlifts instead (which don't aggravate it at all).

This worries more than the back thing, I could still lift with the back strain, this doesn't allow me to squat at all. Biking doesn't hurt, running will make it hurt a little bit, but not much, it's just squatting. Should I even bother talking to the doctors about it? I am no doctor, but I am pretty sure they aren't going to do anything but say rest it, which is probably what I should do, but I'm so frustrated my lifts suck I don't want to quit :-(.

[veryhrm]

1st off: you were doing "oblique bends"?! dude...

next: On the hip flexor it sounds like you're just reinjuring it. The recommended protocol is high reps at low weights and working up starting just a few days after the injury and moving up. Check out the Starr Protocol. (it keeps being mentioned... and google finds the wkia page for it, but i've finally found the original post: Starr Rehab Protocol original post by Rip

So yeah... do that. Same thing should work for your back too assuming it's a muscle... Took me about a month or 6 weeks to recover from a moderate "pull" in my lumbar doing something similar, but not as rigorous. Prob would have happened faster if i'd done it as written, i'm guessing. Also, try to foam-roll or otherwise get in there and "work" the hurt area.

[Michele Knaub]

i also pulled a hip flexor squatting - it was exactly as you describe, both the moment of hurting it and how it felt after. i got good advice from both my coach and a functional movement guy (not a PT - something way smarter) who also works out at my gym and is familiar with the "moving carefully soon after injury makes it heal faster" protocol that Rip advocates.

they *did* insist, and i agreed to, time off from weighted squatting to let the injury cool down a bit (it didn't hurt doing regular activities, but for a while it was painful to palpate it from the outside.) i knew not to just coddle the injury, so i did do other working out and had some movement therapy in the meantime, including ART, then restarted squatting WITH AN EMPTY BAR and worked my way back up, slowly. it was a multi-month process and annoying as hell.

i have not had a single recurrence and am totally pain-free.

[LimieJosh]

Its difficult to say, and the sudden onset of it would make it an atypic presentation, but this sounds more of an inflammatory tendinitis issue than a muscle pull.
1) hip flexor pulls are unusual with the squat
2) knees shooting forward in the bottom position (the position in which you first felt the pain) are the primary cause of hip flexor pain from squatting.
3) you are pain free when doing everything else. In otherwords, it is only squatting (incorrectly) that causes the pain.

[Uglybass]

1st off: you were doing "oblique bends"?! dude...

next: On the hip flexor it sounds like you're just reinjuring it. The recommended protocol is high reps at low weights and working up starting just a few days after the injury and moving up. Check out the Starr Protocol. (it keeps being mentioned... and google finds the wkia page for it, but i've finally found the original post: Starr Rehab Protocol original post by Rip

So yeah... do that. Same thing should work for your back too assuming it's a muscle... Took me about a month or 6 weeks to recover from a moderate "pull" in my lumbar doing something similar, but not as rigorous. Prob would have happened faster if i'd done it as written, i'm guessing. Also, try to foam-roll or otherwise get in there and "work" the hurt area.

Well, not like holding a weight at my side and bending over, it was bending over while pushing a kettle bell into the air then straightening my torso with the kettle bell still overhead, don't know what you'd call it but I saw it on t-nation and thought it'd be a neat assistance exercise.

And i've been looking for the Starr rehab protocol for awhile, thanks!

[veryhrm]

Its difficult to say, and the sudden onset of it would make it an atypic presentation, but this sounds more of an inflammatory tendinitis issue than a muscle pull.
1) hip flexor pulls are unusual with the squat
2) knees shooting forward in the bottom position (the position in which you first felt the pain) are the primary cause of hip flexor pain from squatting.
3) you are pain free when doing everything else. In otherwords, it is only squatting (incorrectly) that causes the pain.

heh. good observation. for some reason,though it clearly says "hip flexor" and i typed it myself, i was thinking adductor...

OP, the way to check if you're doing the knee slide, other than video is to use the TUBOW (terribly useful block of wood)