SS Squats + Hip pain. What to do.

[Simeon Priest]

I've been on SS for 4 weeks now.

Over the last few workouts, I've had some pain in my left hip when squatting. It has only occurred on the heaviest warm-up sets, or just the work sets. It is only on the left side, and after experiencing it, if I immediately do a few body weight squats, I can't feel it. It is truly only when heavier weighs are being used.

It also doesn't affect the rest of my workout at all. Whether I'm doing deads that day, or power cleans I'm fine.

Today, I stopped after 2 work sets on squats, because at this point, I really don't want to do something I'll regret.

Any suggestions for what to do....or what NOT to do would be greatly
appreciated. I'd really LOVE not to have to put SS on hold, if there's any way I can continue it, perhaps just holding off on squats???

http://www.injuredrunner.com/text_images/1938_5_1.jpg

PS. This red area in the pic describes where it hurts very well. Except for the fact that for me, the pain is on the left.

[Brent Sallee]

I actually had this pain a couple of weeks ago. I pushed through one workout and made sure to stretch it very well the next workout. It was still around, but it was much less serious. I felt that stretching my groin helped a great deal with it. I'm not sure what it is, but yeah, it sucks when squatting. I also had the same thing with body squats and the like. If it continues to hurt, take a week off from squats and such or maybe go see a professional about it. Good luck though.

[Howard Wilcox]

Rip talks about a weird form of tendinitis in SS, but I don't remember where the pain was felt.

Perhaps you could check that (or maybe someone else remembers).


howard

[Aaron Shaffer]

You need to work on keeping your weight on your heels. Try lifting your toes off the floor throughout the entire squat, that usually fixes it.

[Steven Quadros]

Originally Posted by Howard Wilcox

Rip talks about a weird form of tendinitis in SS, but I don't remember where the pain was felt.

Perhaps you could check that (or maybe someone else remembers).


howard

The pain Rip talks about is related to letting the knees slide forward at the bottom of the squat. I had this problem a few weeks ago and since correcting my form, not only has it disapeared, but my squat has started to feel great.

There was a video I watched of a coach for crossfit, Dan Johnson I believe, whose exercises helped a lot with my interpretation of the squat. After re-reading SS's squat chapter (for the 15th time), I realized they were both saying the same thing, though in different ways.

This is a long way of saying do what Rip suggests in SS, scale the weights back, all the way down if necessary (probably recommended), and work on your form. One thing I did was use foam rollers and a tennis ball on my hips in addition to working on sitting back on my heels, keeping a firm back arch, and sitting down between my thighs (spreading the knees). The roller helped release a ton of tension I had, and felt good, in that painful-yet-pleasureable way.

There's probably more I could say about this, but it's late, and I feel as if I've given a disorganized enough answer for now.

Good luck.

[Elliot Fuller]

Simeon, if you experience the pain on the ascent rather than the descent, I had the same sensation in the same location. It would hurt for a moment on the ascent, then I could do some dynamic stretches or light squats and get rid of it.

If it's the same kind of pain I was having (I never quite figured out what the issue was), I suggest you scale back to where you don't experience it, or really hit it with the stretches every day. Mine ended up getting slightly more aggravated the more I decided to ignore it, so finally I just took some time off and let it heal.

I wouldn't push it to the point where it becomes something serious. Scale and stretch.

[Jason Tanner]

If it keeps happening, go see a physician. Get a referral to a physical therapist. Better to be safe than sorry.

[Simeon Priest]

Thanks for all the advise everyone!!

I have been very careful to keep my weight on my heels while squatting, and I've tried varying my stance width, and foot angle slightly, with no real results.

I'll try practicing air squats, with blocks to make sure my knees aren't traveling too far forward, although I don't think they are.

Any advise on whether to take a break from squats for a week or so, and see what happens, or just try doing them with a lighter weight, focusing on form, and then working back up?

Also, is there any harm in continuing heavy deads as long as my hip doesn't hurt?

Thanks again for the input everyone!

[David Aguasca]

Well, I dunno if this helps, but from what i understand that's probably your hip flexor that is hurting you.

[Armin Heravi]

Willing to bet it's the hip flexors. I've strained mine multiple times. Ice, give it a rest.

From what I've heard, most people have a real deficiency in hip flexor flexibility.

Somewhere on the board, people have posted Rip's prescription for rehabing strained muscles. See if you can find that...it really helped me. That, and a LOT of stretching.

Edit: found it...http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=20349