Two years ago I dislocated my hip doing squats. I am back in the gym but my hip is still a bit loose…
I no longer squat; I do leg presses, inner thigh, outer thigh, donkey kicks, quad and ham extensions…everything but squats.
Is there any sort of rehab I can do or should I just say goodbye to squats…
Not happy about it, but I’m prepared to let them go if I have to…
Thanks
marka
do you mid if I ask how you dislocated your hip? and give a bit more detail about the injury?
That’s a heavy story man, good on you for coming back to the gym
Hi Larry…
It is a pleasure meeting you! I was working in one of those angled squat machines at the gym (Google Images of a Plate Load Squat Machine…generally it’s the first picture that comes up). I had 700 lbs on it (third set of 3 x 20), no belt (I had knee sleeves though), going just below parallel (that’s how I was trained), knees were pointed in and not out (that’s NOT how I was trained) and the right hip popped out of the socket.
Pretty stupid if you ask me…but you know about hindsight.
I can squat; power rack with a belt, not below parallel, but after I go past 300 lbs it gets dicey. So I thought I’d leave it alone til summer…but lately I’m thinking why push it when I can walk. Not walking is a big deal…
Anyway, if you have any ideas I appreciate it.
thanks…
marka
Hi Marka,
Sorry to hear about your injury and wish you all the best with the rehab.
I aint no expert in answering your question.
But please henceforth, do not tell anyone you dislocated your hip squatting.
I googled Plate Load Squat Machine and that thing looks freaky ! I think whatever you do on that cant be called Squats. At least not just plain squats.
Hi.
If I were you… I would suppliment your strength training (the weights you are moving now) with some mobility work.
Where that mobility work is focused on getting you back to squatting.
Sounds like you know what went wrong with the dislocation: Your knees caved. So what you need to work on is good form for your squats so that your knees don’t cave. Doing things right is the best thing you can do toward preventing your doing something wrong (e.g., your dislocating your hip again).
Suck it up: Start from the beginning and progress as you are able. Sounds like you now truly understand the meaning of as much weight as you are able where as you are able means as good form allows.
You aren’t likely to fuck yourself up doing lowish reps with noish weights. So start from there.
How does your air squat (squat with no weight) look? Or how about if you hold a dumbbell or plate (5-10 kg is enough) in front of you? Post a pic. side on so we can see your lumbar position. front on so we can see your knee position.
You can indeed learn to squat again. Best possible thing you can do for your rehab in fact. It might take you some time to build up to weights that will lead to appreciable hypertrophy or strength, though. So you might choose to suppliment with machine strength program. but do it, yeah.