My balls hurt after I squat

[Alx]

That's the short of it. The long of it is that I did Starting Strength (which is amazing of course) for about 6-7 months, on top of over a year of weightlifting I had already done before that, with no problems whatsoever, having great progress and a great time.

Then one day I woke up with a dull pain in my testicles, rushed to urgent care and was told that I may have inflamed my epididymis. The doc said it's nothing to worry about, and that after a bit of rest it should subside and I can work out again. But, he told me that it may simple be a case of one thing always leading to another, and that has been the story so far. The main aggravator is the squat, after which I get discomfort for 2-4 days, even after doing 80% of the load I'm capable of doing.

Is this just my fate? Have you seen anyone with the same experience? Info on this is very scarce on the web, but I can't believe I'm such a special case.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Alx, buddy, you're on your own here. Unless we get some other input. My balls haven't hurt since 1973, when I learned how finish what I started.

[Dee Dub]

I guess one can go too deep on the squat...

[Keenan]

Go to a urologist, an urgent care doc will not know the intricacies of your manhood.

But an inflamed epididymis? Caused by lifting weights? Hmm.... I had a college roommate that was bed ridden for three days with a condition called epididymitis but that was because he was nailing too many skanks. You may want to check out testicular torsion as well.

Check out this link may or may not be helpful....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epididymitis

But seriously, go to a specialist. And try not to enjoy your first prostate exam too much.

[Drewfasa]

My balls used to hurt when I squatted until I got baggier shorts. Do you have baggy enough shorts/boxers?

[GavinL]

Sometimes my butt hurts after I squat, but I have been eating spicy food lately so I can connect the dots.

Maybe you're doing it wrong..?

On a real note, try different widths of stance, try lighter weight for a day or two, try front squat or similar movements and see what you can and cannot do.

[Powerflifter48]

The only problem I have lately is my penis seems to act uncircumsized and I have to wiggle it to get the dam head to fall out not sure if this is age related or I need to see a doctor but it gets annoying when I have to piss and can't find the head to aim if you get my drift or it goes all over the place.

About your balls hurting... hows your sex life sometimes if your not having sex your balls will have a way of yelling at you for not bangin' that sexy girl that winked at you another name called blue balls not having enough sex.

I know sometimes if I go awhile mine will feel full and hurt and it's hard to concentrate on any lift like Deadlifts, Bench and not so much Squats and after I bang my girlfriend I feel OK..

Anyway, pain in that area is never normal just make sure testicles cancer is outruled.

Powerflifter48

[Mark Rippetoe]

I was pretty sure this would get silly.

[nisora33]

I'm not saying it was the heavy sets of five that did it, but right after I first began Starting Strength, I started having the same balls-aching problem. At first I was afraid I'd herniated something, but a trip to the urologist ended in the same diagnosis as yours. She said it was likely that I was consuming too much caffeine. I cut back on the caffeine a bit, and it did get better for a while, but occassionally the inflammation seems to come back--don't know why.

[Alx]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did visit a urologist, who ruled out cancer and said that this condition is usually caused by an infection that can come from a) std or b) from lifting heavy weights when you need to go pee, forcing urine in the direction it shouldn't go. Either scenario calls for antibiotics, which I diligently took for a week. The symptoms flared up again, so that must not be it. (I'm running for the stall at any hint though now )

His other thought was that some people have more delicate arteries than others, and heavy lifting causes sufficient pressure to rapture them. Sounds plausible, but prior to having this problem I was deadlifting a lot more than I ever squatted with no problems.

I let a week pass, but I couldn't do any kind of exercise without pain, I even felt it during ping-pong! I rested for a month and started adding on exercises, first light then heavy, and everything seemed ok.

Then I tried some light sets of squats (135), and the next days my balls were on fire. After it got better though I tried again, and as my legs got used to it so the symptoms subsided. Increasing weight brings them back though. It's as if it's related to how sore my legs are. I'm researching that now. Thanks again.