Thigh Pain

[Jim Allen]

Coach,

I developed a muscle pain in my thigh a few weeks ago. I didn't notice it during the exercise, the pain just showed up the day after.

What I did:
-I stopped doing heavy sets for a week, which didn't seem to help.
-I then switched to only squatting once a week, which didn't help.
-So then I waited for the pain to go away(2 days), rested another 3 days after that and did a set of 25 using the bar, pain came back.

Here's what I know when I exercise:
- No pain in the area after it's warmed up
- Doesn't hurt durning the squat or deadlift (or other things hurt much worse and mask it)

One day after exercise:
- Sharp pain when I stand up to walk.
- If I sit right back down and stand back up it won't hurt.
- Can feel dull pain in the location if I get on tiptoes
- Pain seems most intense for the first two days after the lift, then goes away.

So here's the point. It doesn't seem to be affecting my lifts. I can still lift heavy and do other exercises without pain. I feel like just ignoring it, and dealing with it when it actually starts to hurt my progress.

What would you recommend here Rip? Should I take care of it now, or wait it out?

I've included a picture of the location.

Jim

Attachment 75

[Mark Rippetoe]

Now you at least know what not to do; layoffs almost never work for anything except systemic overtraining. The site of the pain is probably your rectus femoris, and it may be hip flexor or knee extensor function. It is obviously an inflammatory issue, so I suppose you have used the ibuprofen protocol. But WAIT -- maybe you haven't, because you didn't say anything about it. When you have an inflammatory injury, anti-inflammatory therapy is always first, during which time you will assess the form problems which produced the injury originally. I suspect that page 45-48 of BBT may be of help.