Knee pain when squatting

LoveMyLife_NYC

I'm not sure if you guys can help, but I'd certainly appreciate any advice you can offer!

A little background: I hurt my back 2 years ago in an accident, and while the injury is largely healed, I do find the left side of my back, hip flexor, and hamstring to be tighter and require more stretching during my workouts. I perform a wide range of stretches as suggested by my trainer and a PT daily. I also have a mild case of plantar fasciitis in my left heel. I need to stretch and massage it regularly to relieve the pain. These aren't sharp pains. They just feel like annoying tight muscles.

Here's my question: I recently noticed knee pain when I am performing squats. It hurts just below the left knee cap, and it's a very sharp pain, different from the tightness I'm feeling elsewhere. If I keep my feet wide and remind myself to keep my knees wide, I can perform a full range squat as heavy as I want with no problem. But sometimes my trainer has me do squats where my feet are just wider than shoulder width. If I go parallel when performing these squats, I get that sharp knee pain at the bottom of my squat and have a hard time completing the move. I'm afraid if I continue, I'll end up blowing out my knee. But.... squats!!! :sad:

Any ideas as to why that particular move would cause pain, and what I can do to fix it? Poor form? Muscle/tendon injury? It doesn't hurt when I do anything else... run, jump rope, other weighted leg exercises... they can all be performed with no pain.

Thank you so much for any advice you can offer!

jordymils

It could be as simple as your knees going too far in front of your toes. Ie; you're not sitting far back enough in the squat. So, yes, poor form.
I know when I get tired and my form gets a little sloppy, I tend to sit a little further forward in the squat than I normally would and I start to feel a bit of an ache in my knees. Then it reminds me to concentrate and correct my form.
But for me it's an ache, not a sharp pain, so it could be different.
Try doing a squat (just bodyweight) sideways to a mirror and hold the bottom position - check your position in the mirror and see if your knees are in front of your toes or not. If they are, and especially if you're not pushing your knees out wide enough, that could be your problem...

Juggernaut_D

I had the same pain, but as Jordymils said, the remedy was fixing my form. I started concentrating on keeping my knees where they were and focused on pushing my butt back. Whenever I feel the pain again, I check my form and adjust - works every time!

AbbeyDove

I got some advice from a trainer with respect to a very similar sharp knee pain. He said to practice squat form with bodyweight only, and check to make sure that I could lift my toes at the bottom of the squat. If I could lift my toes, this indicated that my weight was further back in my heel (where he wanted it to be) rather than too far forward. Practicing this on occasion seems to help me keep my knees in proper alignment when squatting. But I tended to be too much on the ball of my foot when squatting, in his view.

LoveMyLife_NYC

Thank you everyone for your advice! I'll try it out next time I go to the gym. I was really scared I'd have to give up on squats for a while!

starbucksbuzz

Hmmm I just would keep my feet wider - With heavier squats I always feel more comfortable with a wider stance. Also if I get any pain in my knee usually it's a reminder to me to make sure I'm engaging everything as I should. Something a trainer told me about when I first started was external rotation - it's hard to describe, but includes engaging your hamstrings / quads / glutes and pushing your knees outwards as you go into the squat. When I focus on this (and also engaging my core) it always helps any knee pain I may have felt. Disclaimer: I am not a trainer or professional of any kind, so definitely don't take my suggestions for more than they're worth.

SideSteel

I would question why the trainer is having you move your stance narrower when a wide stance causes you no pain and a narrow stance does.

This isn't to say that you can't remove the pain by making sure your form is correct with the narrower squat -- it's possible that your technique causes it -- but at the same time I would question the trainer on this.

If your form is within reason then the simple answer in my mind would be to just not squat with that narrower stance.

Yanicka1

I am having knees problems and my sport therapist want me to do sumo squats and sumo deadlifts. Also I need to get braces for both my legs. I have not tried it yet but I hope it will help with pain

LoveMyLife_NYC

Thank you all for your feedback! My trainer wanted the closer squats to target my quads more, and also to allow for a deeper squat. He had me perform the move slowly today, with no weight on the bar and my heels elevated on small plates. We paid careful attention to pushing my knees out and keeping my chest up and it made all the difference! No pain while performing the squats. Thanks again!