Hip Pain On Squats

PILL

Member
I've been experiencing some hip pain over the last few months whenever I perform back squats over 225. If you follow from the iliac crest straight down about 3 inches to what is the front right corner of my right leg you'd hit right on the spot of the pain.

The odd thing is that I can front squat past 225 and dead-lift well past that with no pain at all. I favor a wide back squat stance, and only when squatting in that stance with my hips flared wide do I experience pain. Any suggestions? I'm aware I should probably go see a doctor, but it seems like most doctors don't care if I'm not experiencing pain in their office. They seem to think the answer is to not try and lift every weight in the gym.

Thanks,
 
A sports clinic / therapist can properly review your structure and lifting form, but since our stats are about the same, how do you squat? And with what frequency?

I tend to use a slightly wider than shoulder width stance, toes pointed out a bit, and squat past parallel. This has helped me with pain and with heavier weight.

Do you have any videos by chance? Only way for any of us to really criticize form, etc.

FWIW - I get the same pain from time to time, but only on 1 side. I use this to fix it (the 16" knurled bar):

Invalid Link Removed

Game changing when it comes to hip tightness / quads / etc.
 
Try playing with your stance (bringing it in) to see if that does any better. I used to try to go as wide as possible and caused myself hip pain, but after a couple months of squatting just a few inches narrower, it all went away.
 
That stick is pretty cool. Did you find your issue was cause from your hip flexor being too tight or from your gluts and hams?

And to answer your question I typically squat once to twice a week. 3 sets of heavy front or back squats (6-2 reps) and then one legged squat and lunge variations for 6-12 sets as a superset to my upper body work.

And yes herder, bringing it in definitely eliminates the pain and I've been doing that lately. However, the wider and more hip dominant I squat the heavier I can go. Maybe I just need to find a narrower sweet spot that doesn't sacrifice too much weight on the bar.
 
Yeah, I can understand that. Get up on your mobility and think long term. You can squat more that way right now, but if you have a few years of pain free squatting, you'll be moving more narrow than you would with on/off training too wide. I know Too many people with bad hips, it's a horrible thing to do to yourself.
 
What's your progression in squats? Any hip mobility and work up to your 3 sets? As you get stronger is imagine you'd need more loosening before your top sets. I know I can't just jump into them without hip tightness.
 
PILL said:
That stick is pretty cool. Did you find your issue was cause from your hip flexor being too tight or from your gluts and hams?

And to answer your question I typically squat once to twice a week. 3 sets of heavy front or back squats (6-2 reps) and then one legged squat and lunge variations for 6-12 sets as a superset to my upper body work.

And yes herder, bringing it in definitely eliminates the pain and I've been doing that lately. However, the wider and more hip dominant I squat the heavier I can go. Maybe I just need to find a narrower sweet spot that doesn't sacrifice too much weight on the bar.
Click to expand...

My left hip has some issues. Once in a while, if I'm sitting at home watching TV/movies with my left leg crossed, that left hip will actually pop from time to time. Those hip muscles always been tighter than the other side, for as long as I can remember (I even have some slight nerve damage from my back that causes numbness on that side, been there for over 15yrs). This is fairly normal for a lot of people though, to have a tighter side. I should get an MRI on it to see if there's any microtears in the hip labrum.

Btw, what do your warmup sets look like when you squat? Do you do any active mobility warmup drills as well? I rarely get any pain now if I warm up properly.
 
I typically jog to the GYM and work my way up from body weight, to 135, 225, 315, and to working sets.

I've fooled around with loosening my glutes before lifting thinking maybe they were tight and causing my hip flexors to strain. I've also fooled around with loosening the flexor itself to no avail.
 
See if the first two here work:

Invalid Link Removed

...or if this helps:

Invalid Link Removed

Those first two I mention I do before all squats and deads.
 
Yeah, running to the gym and then starting to squat isn't really a warmup.

Check this out. Takes 5-10min and can be done anywhere. I do a bunch of these before squating:

[video=youtube;FSSDLDhbacc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc[/video]
 
Invalid Link Removed

decent read on anterior hip pain. I agree with herder on narrowing your stance and reg on the activation
 
Thanks for the article, Sean. I'll be reading that while under the x wife in a few minutes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top