Leg tendon = no more squats

[Jim_Junkie]

hey strong enough was that directed at me, or?

T NATION | Yoga, Yes Yoga, For Big Bastards

Had the same thing, couldn't squat or sit down without pain. Done this twice a day for 2 weeks now and it's only a small amount of discomfort in the flexor and I can squat just fine. Hurts a bit when you first start doing it.

I put it down to mainly the Prayer Squat and a bit for the Hero Pose. The rest is kinda useful.

In short stretch your hip flexor and foam roll/stretch your glutes.

For SB: I do alot of walking about for my job and used to do more so in the form of a morning walk 6 days a week. I found the amount of walking did a number on my flexors/heel. Also hill sprints, though fun, would have me trouble walking after 3-4 sessions of 'em just due to the flexor.

thanks Iron, that looks really good. I'll go through that tonight and see how I feel

 

[strong enough?]

hey strong enough was that directed at me

yep, directed at you.

 

[Jim_Junkie]

the pain you are describing is tendonitis in your rectus femoris, which is actually part of your quad, although it also acts as a hip flexor). It is caused by inactive, inhibited or weak glutes & hammies. The glute/hams might be inhibited or weak from a structural point of view, which requires specific activation strategies, but usually it's a technique problem more than anything.

The technique problem I'm talking about is described by Rippetoe in Starting Strength. Basically it's caused by not sitting back in a back squat. If you let you knees shoot forward at the bottom of the squat to hit depth, basically your hamstring is relaxing and loses control of the angle of the pelvis (hamstring attaches to both the hip and the knee). The combined loss of control at the knee and the hip means your rec fem gets tugged from the ASIS causing bad tendonitis.

If this is the problem stretching your hip flexor could make it worse not better, so just be careful not to overstretch. Treat it like any soft tissue injury. Rest, Ice, anti-inflamms if it's too painful (but they will make it heal slower).

Definitely foam roll rec fem (quads), even better use PVC pipe. You lie face down with the pipe under the centre of your quad. pull your feet to your buttocks to itensify the hit on rec fem (as it will put it on stretch).

Then fix your squat. Use a vertical block of wood 1" in front of your toes when you squat, which will force you to sit back (otherwise your knees will knock over the wood).

ahh okay I think we've found the problem, yeah my knee's do tend to come forward a bit.

I feel really unstable when I sit back, any suggestions? otherwise I'm just going to youtube the form and practice with the block like you said.

 

[dw_1]

wow
i have had this for a cpl of years now , its 1st occurred when i starting using the leg press for a change around in my training
id feel this real tight pull right up in the left side groin area then id be limping for a few days afterwards

i left it a week or 2 then wennt back to resume training, id squat and seemed ok then move to the leg press and BAM i get it again
pain was worse than the 1st time
took 3 months off and resumed in my usual work in phase came back again
hard to walk had to lift my leg into the car for a few weeks seen dr after dr they are useless

eventually went to see my sports dr and had an mri it showed the region and bascially found that the tendon is really tight now and will need to be loosened thru surgery eventually if his suggestion of using my own growth factor extracted from my blood injected into the problem area doesnt work which will mean months of rehab!

i feel for you who suffer not sure if your is the same as mine but i have to limit my depth alot and take it really easy training legs

 

[DREADLIFT]

BUMPPPPP

Developed a similar hip tendonitis issue, according the Mark Rippitoe in starting strength its from the knees moving foward once your in the bottom of the hole, putting stress on the hip tendons as they are pulled foward.

Anyway, ive stopped ATG squatting for a while and am stretching it regularly through all ranges of motion, has anybody else had this, and would box squatting (pain free) be a suitable substitue for squatting, but still allowing the tendon to heal. Or should i just avoid all squatting movements altogether.

Edit, only read first page before posting. Still relevant, would box squatting without pain still allow the tendon to heal...?

 

[strong enough?]

If you can box squat without pain, go for it.

this is the same strategy I've recently started using.

I got another bout of rec fem tendonitis on my last squat cycle - it was crippling - couldn't squat for 3 weeks before a comp. dosed up on anti-inflams for the comp and managed to squat 145 but wincing in pain.

In my case, its not knees going forward (confirmed by video analysis), its just a symptom of being quad dominant and overloading the rec fem tendon. this is why I think this injury is so common in adults trying to learn how to squat - quad dominance. I've focussed on building up the glute tie-in on the hamstring, which is the direct antagonist muscle of the rec fem. This is exactly where box squats hit.

I took a few months off to take a break from lifting and give the tendon a chance to heal - it's very painful otherwise. I started back recently.

The quad dominance (and lack of training) is so bad my 5RM on squat was 135 and starting back my below parallel box squat started at 45kg and was difficult Its building up very quickly and its already starting to loosen the front of my hips.

 

[DREADLIFT]

Thanks for this, will substitute below parallel box squats in and see how it goes.

 

[chocchillimango]

you probably already know these guys but they're brilliant:

MobilityWOD

lots of great mobility and flexibility drills you can do with videos to show you how and when to do them.

I've been doing the ankle mobility drills and some hip flexor ones (but my problem is mostly ankle from an injury).

For back squats, I'm still sitting at around 75 degrees but getting better so it must be helping.