Strong pain in left hip caused by squat (video included)

[opf]

Hi,

First off, I don't have great footage, but I hope it can at least be somewhat helpful. It's the only recent squat footage I have and I didn't intend it to be posted here.

My last three squat sessions (where I've been increasing weight each time) I started to experience pain from my left outer hip. It starts at the top of the hip and continues down through the thigh and all the way down to the knee. It's a sharp pain that kicks in after the first heavy set of squats. When it's peaking, I can barely stand up - need to sit down on the floor. Had to cut my session short last time because I was in too much pain. It definitely feels like a tendon pain. It's *only* in the left side (which is my dominant side) - I feel no pain whatsoever in the right. It subsides completely about three hours later. But now it seems to come back slightly if I run around or something like that. So needless to say I won't be squatting for a couple of weeks. I should also note that this is something that has been coming on slowly. It started a couple of weeks ago after I completed my whole workout. I felt a bit of pain down through the thigh/hip but nothing special. Then each session after that it has gotten worse and worse. I kept squatting because I thought it was just a one time thing.

What I want to know is what has caused this pain, and I hope that you might be able to tell from this video, even though it's not super great and doesn't exactly give the best view. Right off the bat I'll say that I am definitely making sure to push out my knees throughout the movement. I know that failing to do this can cause hip pain, but that doesn't seem to be the problem here.

Squat leg pain - YouTube

Thanks in advance

[Greg Ruhl]

You managed to walk the bar out of the frame so we can only see what's in the mirror (1 step is sufficient for a walk out). However, you are bombing into the bottom and are going too deep. This is known to cause the kinds of problems you're experiencing. Cut your depth off (hip crease at top of the knee) and descend with a little more control.

[opf]

Yeah I know, really sorry about the horrible footage.

Thanks for the advice - I have noticed that I have a tendency to really dive bomb the squats as the load gets heavier - the bounce effect seems to help a lot. But maybe it's not a good kind of bounce? Would you say that hip pain is normal when doing this? I know that dive bombing is considered to be a technical flaw, but I have not heard anyone saying that it causes hip pain. I hope that's the problem though - then I know how to fix the pain at least.

[Satch12879]

Yeah I know, really sorry about the horrible footage.

Thanks for the advice - I have noticed that I have a tendency to really dive bomb the squats as the load gets heavier - the bounce effect seems to help a lot. But maybe it's not a good kind of bounce? Would you say that hip pain is normal when doing this? I know that dive bombing is considered to be a technical flaw, but I have not heard anyone saying that it causes hip pain. I hope that's the problem though - then I know how to fix the pain at least.

Yes, because it exacerbates the knee slide that you have.

[Adam Franklin]

Yeah I know, really sorry about the horrible footage.

Thanks for the advice - I have noticed that I have a tendency to really dive bomb the squats as the load gets heavier - the bounce effect seems to help a lot. But maybe it's not a good kind of bounce? Would you say that hip pain is normal when doing this? I know that dive bombing is considered to be a technical flaw, but I have not heard anyone saying that it causes hip pain. I hope that's the problem though - then I know how to fix the pain at least.

"Dive bombing" the squat and the resulting knees slide are notorious for causing knee and hip tendonitis. The best advice I can give for the tendonitis is to correct your squat form, keep training, and take motrin.

Find a weight where you can control the descent, don't go too deep, and bounce off of the tight hip musculature, not your joints!

[opf]

Thanks guys, very informative.

I definitely already knew that kneeslide would cause hip pain, but I really don't see my knees sliding in this video. Can someone point out to me exactly where it happens, so I can be more cautious next time squatting?

[AdamAZ]

Thanks guys, very informative.

I definitely already knew that kneeslide would cause hip pain, but I really don't see my knees sliding in this video. Can someone point out to me exactly where it happens, so I can be more cautious next time squatting?

It's when you dip below parallel, when you bounce.