Professional tennis player unable to squat below parallel

[Rosenholm]

I am a 22 year-old professional tennis player from Sweden and I have a big problem. At least I think so. I cannot squat below parallel (and I have problems deadlifting as well) and I do not know why. Some coaches tell me it is because I have short achilles tendons, some because my hips are not mobile enough and some because I cannot contract my rectus femoris. I have been to a dozen of coaches, physiotherapists and doctors and I have tried so many different techniques over the last 10 years to get me to be able to squat but nothing seems to work.

Some background information:
I was born two month earlier than expected and with very short achilles tendons. When I turned one I got my left leg put in plaster due to the fact that I could not put my left heel into the ground when I was standing up holding onto something. Ten years later I still had problems and I was walking on my forefoot and toes only on both feet. During a couple of years I had to consciously think about how to walk every time I was going to take a step and thanks to that I learn how to walk a little bit better.

According to my physical trainer the flexibility in my ankles is not so good, but it should be enough to do a squat. He bases this on the fact that I can do a lunge with a straight back and push my toes an inch i front of my foot. My hip mobility is bad as well, but I can do a full ROM squat if I hold onto something so that I do not fall backwards. I cannot assume the bottom position of the squat without a bar as you suggest in Starting Strength.

Last week I got acupuncture. I got needles put in the front side of my hips or high up in my quadriceps, I do not know exactly what to call it. And needles right below my knee and a little bit on the outside. He then connected the four needles to an electrical muscle stimulator to send some electricity to the muscles. The needles where all placed close to a nerve and the goal was to activate my rectus femoris because the man thought that my problem was that I could not activate that muscle myself. After the treatment my squat got 20 % deeper. The man said to me that my problem was indeed the fact that I could not contract rectos femoris and that I had hip flexors that do not react on my nerve signals correctly. He also concluded that my back angle, when squattng, is not steep enough. I move my breast to close to my thighs. I have checked if this is a hamstring problem and it is not.

I do not know if anyone have been through or heard about something like this before, but I would really appreciate any help I can get. Rip, I am not asking you for a "miracle". I am just asking if you have any idea what is going on with me and suggestions of what I should do to be able to squat and deadlift.

/ Rosenholm

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do you have the book?

[psyck0]

I hope you are aware that every study that has been done shows conclusively that acupuncture performs no better, and sometimes worse, than a placebo, i.e. that it is a sham and a waste of your money, no better than homeopathy or those magnetic bracelets.

I'm afraid I don't have a useful suggestion regarding your squats, but I believe that saving you money is equally useful.

[TomF]

Your achilles tendons can almost certainly lengthen enough with diligent stretching, if they're what is preventing your squatting. My daughter was born with two club feet - had the casts etc. you describe, even had two surgeries on one of the legs as a kid.

She squats fine so long as she stretches well, and pays attention to her tendency to favour one side (the side which had the surgeries). Made a nice linear progression on SS one Winter off-seasons when she was a rower ... ending up with a 1.5X bodyweight squat, and a 2X bodyweight deadlift.

Bottom line is that you'll likely have to work on your flexibility, but it will almost certainly come if you do that work. Frankly, squatting with scrupulous attention to form and some weight on your back will be a very good stretch for whatever bodypart is too tight.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Tom, he states that: "He bases this on the fact that I can do a lunge with a straight back and push my toes an inch i front of my foot." This tells me that he can squat if he knows how, because this degree of ankle mobility is adequate for the squat. Thus, my question.

[dmd]

I hope you are aware that every study that has been done shows conclusively that acupuncture performs no better, and sometimes worse, than a placebo, i.e. that it is a sham and a waste of your money, no better than homeopathy or those magnetic bracelets.

That was not my experience when I had severe tendonitis in my elbow. After a year of dealing with the condition, I decided to try acupuncture. Eight treatments did not just make the pain go away, it healed me and restored the use of my arm.

Before I decided to try acupuncture, I read a report from the World Health Organization that said acupuncture had been shown to be effective in treating inflammation.

Don't know how it could help with squats or deadlifts, though.

[gimble]

That study published by the WHO was based on a meta-analysis by Dr. Xiaorui Zhang whose methods have received strong criticism from the scientific community.

He once stated that his intention was to "show acupuncture works" Hardly a good starting place for an unbiased study.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't know whether acupuncture works or not -- I've never tried it, but I see no mechanism in it by which an inflammatory process could be mediated. On the other hand, I know that proper squat instruction produces proper squatting for damn near everybody. If there is a problem with your squat, 99% of the time it is because you have not been shown how to do it correctly.

[psyck0]

That was not my experience when I had severe tendonitis in my elbow. After a year of dealing with the condition, I decided to try acupuncture. Eight treatments did not just make the pain go away, it healed me and restored the use of my arm.

Before I decided to try acupuncture, I read a report from the World Health Organization that said acupuncture had been shown to be effective in treating inflammation.

Don't know how it could help with squats or deadlifts, though.

Science >>>>> anecdotal evidence.

Also, that's exactly how placebos work. Seriously. They have done fake acupuncture where they didn't even stick anything in that worked just as well.

[bowdirk]

I hope you are aware that every study that has been done shows conclusively that acupuncture performs no better, and sometimes worse, than a placebo, i.e. that it is a sham and a waste of your money, no better than homeopathy or those magnetic bracelets.

That is complete and utter bullshit.

Accupuncture works.

It is not even worth arguing about.

-Bowdirk