Squats - Pinched feeling at hip joint when hitting parallel

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shadow2soul
shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious if anyone has experienced this before.

I go into a squat and at about parallel, I start to get a feeling around my upper left thigh by the hip joint as if something is being pinched. It's a recent development and even happens with just body weight. I'm not really sure what to make of it.

I did do a google search and found someone post about something similar on the Starting Strength message boards. The response they got was about widening their stance and making sure their toes point out.

I'm just curious as to if there are any other opinions out there on the issue.

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    Check the tips here, especially the part about pulling the thighs outward:
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=zoZWgTrZLd8

    Let us know if it helps.
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
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    Sounds like your hip flexor. I experienced that last year and took a few weeks off from squats. That seemed to do the trick for me. There might be stretches out there that could help with it too.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    I agree that's it's probably a hip flexor. I take a widen than conventional stance, and this helps. I was having really severe pain in mine, and I started laying on my stomach and using a baseball to massage those muscles. That has helped more than anything else, and even though I don't have nearly as much pain now, I still roll every night.
  • lili61
    lili61 Posts: 231 Member
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    It does sound like a hip flexor issue. I was having lots of problems, but once I started rolling my hip flexors before and after every workout, the issue vanished. I actually use a PVC pipe that my gym has since the foam rollers don't really hit them for me.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Thanks everyone.

    I know I'm really late on replying to this. My bad. I did squats yesterday with no pain. However, I'm going to buy a foam roller and see if that helps in the future.

    Until I get it, I've added in some stretching & yoga and it seems to have helped for now at least.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
    edited April 2015
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    If it is hip flexor, you may want to check your form. Sometimes our hips take the strain in movements when they really shouldn't because our glutes aren't doing their fair share of the work (said my physio when I saw her for a sore hip). Flexibility work and foam rolling are great too, but be careful not to stretch too aggressively!
  • mikevandewetering
    mikevandewetering Posts: 155 Member
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    Agree on the foam rolling when you have tight hip flexors
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    yusaku02 wrote: »
    Sounds like your hip flexor. I experienced that last year and took a few weeks off from squats. That seemed to do the trick for me. There might be stretches out there that could help with it too.
    Yep
  • klwells08
    klwells08 Posts: 158 Member
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    I agree with everyone else, hip flexor. Yesimpson hit the nail on the head. I had hip flexor issues when squatting because my posterior chain was not fully engaged and the hip flexor was trying to make up the difference. I dropped back the weight and focused on form, as well as stretching my hip flexor. So far, no issues as the weight begins to climb again.

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