Pain in Tendons During Squats

[Jiggy]

During today's session I felt some pain in my tendons during squats. It's the large tendons in the inner tighs where they meet with the groin.

My current body weight is 71kg, my 5x5 squats today were 75kg. So only sightly over bodyweight.

I noticed the pain a little bit during my last session (squat 72.5kg) but this session was worse. I managed 5x5 but am now wondering if I should have stopped as soon as I felt the pain.

I'm not sure what to do now. My feeling is that I should lay off squats for a week or two and deload. I spoke to a friend who said that the pain is because I've increased the weight too quickly and although my muscles can handle the weight, my tendons cannot.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Anyone experienced the same thing?

[jsein86]

I had pain/soreness in what sounds like a similar area.

I focused on really pushing my knees out during the squat and it feels much better.

[Jiggy]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for when I start squatting again. Legs are still a bit sore today so gonna take at least week off and deload.

[bbeardnc]

Hi Jiggy,
I had a similar problem which I believe was caused by my not warming up properly. I wish that I had read this article in the beginning.
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-a-proper-warm-up/

When it happened to me I too took a week off from leg lifts. I used a tennis ball to roll out my hip flexor. The attachment point is about 2 inches to the side of your belly button and I would roll from there all the way down to where it attaches to the Femur bone. Also do this static stretch several times per day on your recovery days (don't do it until after lifting on your lifting days)
http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexor ... lexor.html
Spidermans are a good dynamic stretch for the hip flexors that I do as part of my warm up routine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtvAwdAsbI8

I de-loaded my squat from 205 to 115 climbing back at 10 pounds per workout and within three weeks it was healed.
Good luck,
Bill

[eLvarouza]

If your knees come forward at the bottom of the squat your hip flexors get pulled on. Pushing the knees out fixes this, as indicated above.

[Jiggy]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll start stretching and really focus on this for a week before I start squatting again with the exception of maybe box squats with an empty bar to get my form right and make sure my knees don't come forward.

The second week I'll deload from 75kg to 40kg and see how I go. My tendon in my left leg is still a little sore now (I guess this is because my left leg was less flexible in the first place).

[GreenLantern]

Hey guys, I am experiencing this very same issue. I felt a line of pain in the tendon. As far as pushing the knees out...that means basically spreading my legs as I go through the motion, correct? My knees don't come forward over the feet, but maybe I am losing good form as my squats get heavier. I am a newbie to squats, and my last one was 165 lbs. I felt the pain in the last set, and I didn't move on to deadlift that day. I took a week off, but now I'm ready to go back. I was going to do the 10 percent de-load and work my way back up slowly. Am I being too paranoid? I love adding 5 lbs at each workout, but I'm scared of injury.

[Jiggy]

@GreenLantern I would actually recommend a larger deload than that, depending on how badly you injured yourself. I'm guilty of wanting to progress quickly as well but to put things in perspective, I pushed through the pain and ended up being unable to do squats or deadlifts for 6 WEEKS!! My injury is healed now, but you don't want to take risks with a tendon injury.

Maybe use your warm up sets as an indicator. If you feel pain then stop.

Have you been stretching at the start of your workout?

Also see this recent thread on pushing your knees out. I've tweaked my technique a little after reading it.

[GreenLantern]

@jiggy I actually delloaded today down to 135. No pain during the squat sets but a little tenderness afterward. I think I will stay at 135 for the next couple of weeks to focus on form. And any sign of real pain I will take off a week. I'd rather take it slow than to injure myself. I think I really need to work on pushing my knees out.

[Jiggy]

Sounds good mate. Really pushing your knees out hard will give the outsides of your legs a chance to strengthen. If you continually do this as you progress through the increments then they will be strong enough to stop your knees coming in and will protect your tendons.

All the best.

Jig

[Jiggy]

Sods law, I've started to get pain in my tendons again. So don't listen to my advice!!! lol

I was really focusing on pushing my knees out and always do stretches before my workout so I'm not sure what the problem is?! Nightmare.

Jig

[chris88]

Try using your glutes more, A time ago i had the same problem and it seemed that I was still using my leg muscles more than my glutes so try that in combination with pushing knees out.

If it's still hurting I would take a break or deload... or eat and rest more

[Jiggy]

Interesting, never thought of that! I'll probably take a couple of workouts off squats because I'd just deloaded 10kg and was still feeling pain. Will def keep the glutes in mind when I start again. Think I really need to buy Starting Strength!

Cheery!

Jiggy

[gantengx]

had the same problem as well. I went to see a physiotherapy and I was told that I have to take a 4weeks break from working out... It's 3 weeks already and my tendon is much better. Next week I'll start working out again with 20% deload

[Jiggy]

I bought starting strength over the xmas period and it has been a real eye opener in terms of squat form. There were so many things I thought I was doing correctly but it turns out I wasn't. The knees should ideally only be 2-3 inches in front of the toes at any point during the squat (may vary slightly depending on body dimensions). If they go much farther forward then it pulls on the tendons where they attach to the groin area and causes tendonitis.

If I'd bought starting strength when I first started stronglifts it would have saved so much time in terms of injury and stalls due to poor technique. Well worth the £30!