Ulnar nerve dysfunction and squats

[spangler]

Coach, I have ulnar nerve dysfunction ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/000789.htm ) that is unbelievably painful when I squat. The problem has become much worse recently.

As history, I dislocated the ulnar nerve, tore the glenoid labrum, tore a rotator cuff and frayed the bicep tendon of my left arm 2 years ago. Those diagnoses were made from MRI images and physical inspection. It hasn't given me any major problems until I've started to get heavier in my squats. I recently posted a video of my squat form ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw7ZwUoEZn8 ) which you told me were high-bar.

I'm trying to get more into the low-bar position and getting treatment to address the shoulder issues (lack of flexibility and torn stuff) so I can get into the low-bar position better, but the prognosis has me being fixed in about 10 weeks.

The pain I am in after squatting is pretty damn severe. My guess is that I'm impinging the nerve somewhere in the shoulder and after squats my left arm is completely useless for about 2 hours.

Thanks for wading through all that. The question is, given these injuries, until I have improved flexibility and hopefully have no more impingement in 10 weeks, is there any modified way I can do squats which will cause relief to the arm?

Thank you,

-Andrew Spangler

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you're hurt this badly, you'll need to wait until the thing is better before you try the low-bar position. Just high-bar until you can lower the bar without destroying your shoulder.