So I’ve been dealing with a few issues here recently. Back pain when squatting as well as some issues with my right knee and hip.
The back pain materializes as a somewhat sharp pinch in my lower back as I lock out a squat. It really only appears in that very last little bit of motion before the movement is complete.
The knee generally does not hurt, but often feels weak and unstable. This feeling is greatly exaggerated by any kind of running for an extended period of time. Every now and then I’ll feel a sharp pinch that seems to be located on the inside of the knee right below the VMO. This feeling always fades away almost immediately and leaves no residual pain. Strangely enough this only seems to occur during warmup sets of squats with very light weight.
My hip doesn’t really hurt during activity, but if I am sitting in a deep squat for more than a few seconds the front of the hip begins to ache. When stretching the right hip flexor (in a typical kneeling stretch) I always feel the stretch in my groin in a very uncomfortable way. Then if I stretch the right side of my groin I get an ache that runs down the inside of my right leg to the knee. Also, if I attempt to do any soft tissue work on the groin area I get a tingling that radiates down the inside of the right leg as well. My right leg is also a bit less developed than my left, most noticeably in the VMO. Some cursory research online seemed to point towards entrapment of the obturator nerve, which I hope isn’t the case since the few sources I looked at indicated surgery as the main treatment option.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Also, if you think a visit to a doctor is warranted do you have any recommendations on who to go to in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area.
[quote]rcsermas wrote:
So I’ve been dealing with a few issues here recently… .[/quote]
Some questions for you to consider: Have these issues come out of nowhere? or have they been been around longer than just recently?
[quote]rcsermas wrote:
The knee generally does not hurt, but often feels weak and unstable. This feeling is greatly exaggerated by any kind of running for an extended period of time. Every now and then I’ll feel a sharp pinch that seems to be located on the inside of the knee right below the VMO. This feeling always fades away almost immediately and leaves no residual pain. Strangely enough this only seems to occur during warmup sets of squats with very light weight.
.[/quote]
Generally runners have lots of problems with VMO activation (from what I have seen in the therapy clinic I have shadowed). Now I am not a therapist but I personally think running really fucks up the knees so I would definetly lay off it until it doesnt hurt. Lots of my friends WERE casual longe distance runners before their knees started giving in.
I would think the warm up would hurt more because the tissues arent ready. Usually when blood flow gets in there things start to move around better. I had the pain you were describing once during squatting. I just made sure I warmed up on some aerobic machine lightly, and then iced the hell out of the area when I was done.
I hope this helps somewhat. seriously, ice anything that hurts, 10 minutes on 10 off. It can help reduce any further damage that might have been done.
[quote]earthquake wrote:
Some questions for you to consider: Have these issues come out of nowhere? or have they been been around longer than just recently?
[/quote]
Sorry that was a poor choice of wording. I experienced a similar back issue about two years ago. That time I just took a few weeks off and it went away. In this instance it seems worse than before. The right knee weakness and instability has been around for awhile but worsened recently. The groin-related problems are more recent, though thinking back on it I have suffered a good number of groin strains in the past.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Get your posture checked out as i suspect you have an APT (ant. pelvic tilt). This fits the model in several ways:
Excessive lordosis at the top of the squat, impinging facet joints, resulting in sharp, transient pain, as you described.
The internally rotated femurs will create long, weak abductors and short, tight adductors. This can result in knee instability, medial knee pain and groin issues. You have all 3.
BBB[/quote]
Thanks for the response. I definitely have a serious anterior pelvic tilt. Now to begin fixing it. I’m planning to follow the guidelines in the Neanderthal No More series. Is there anything you recommend in addition to what is laid out in the article?