T Nation

Groin Pull?

Powerlifting
#1

Last Wednesday I did a lot of front squats and my legs were toasted. No, big deal. However, Saturday I tried to squat again and when I went to stretch I noticed something wrong. I attempted to do a bodyweight squat and I could not go below parallel.

Other than when I try to squat, I hardly notice the problem, but it appears to be located in the upper inside part of my left thigh. I just recently started doing Oly lifts and so the “ass to the grass squats” are hitting parts of muscles that formerly were not. Do you think it’s a groin pull? If so, how would you train around it for the Oly lifts? Would power cleans and power snatches be ok? Why does one get such an injury and how can you prevent it?

#2

I’m having trouble locating where you think it’s hurt. Do you mean up in your hip flexor?

#3

For most people a pull is more annoying then motion limiting. As you get lower you would feel more like “I don’t want to do this” rather then my body wont’ let me go any lower. A tear of course would be more painful.

A groin pull is also there all day. If its a real pull, heavy snatches and cleans would make it last a lot longer. Pretty much anything explosive.

There known to last several months, but I’ve had success getting rid of them with light weight adducter and abductor machines every day for a week or so as well as a lightly stretched low weight stiff legged deadlift.

If you think its a pull try not to do any aggressive stretching for the next 2 weeks, if you think your muscles are just super tight which can be the case then try actively stretching them.

Posted on here and youtube is an excellent assortment of squat warmups and accessory exercises. I think its Squat RX something maybe about 10 clips try going though that and you should be ok.

#4

[quote]Agressive Napkin wrote:
I’m having trouble locating where you think it’s hurt. Do you mean up in your hip flexor?[/quote]

Upper thigh, but not on the outer-side near the hip, rather on the inside near the genitals.

#5

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
For most people a pull is more annoying then motion limiting. As you get lower you would feel more like “I don’t want to do this” rather then my body wont’ let me go any lower. A tear of course would be more painful.
[/quote]

Yes, this sounds like a description of it. I could go lower but I dont want to. I just now tried to squat and while not really painful, it feels like my body is just saying “Dont go there” :wink: I just know tried to go into a squat and it is feeling better than it did yesterday. I dont know what to make of that. I keep hoping that it’s not a real pull but just a sore that will recover in a few days.

Well, I can feel it a little bit even when I am not lifting. It is not painful but sort of sore and noticeable.

I had in mind doing power cleans or snatches…in other words, practice the moves but without going into anything more than, say, a quarter squat at most (if that).

Adductor and abductor machines, eh? Never used them but I guess there is a first-time for everything. Hey, I dont mind if it will help me get over this more quickly.

I guess that it is possible that they are super tight. As I said before, until my recent foray into Olympic Lifting, my squats went pretty low, well below parallel, but not “ass to the grass”. So it could be the case that the muscles on the top of the thigh were not being fully played before.

[quote]
Posted on here and youtube is an excellent assortment of squat warmups and accessory exercises. I think its Squat RX something maybe about 10 clips try going though that and you should be ok. [/quote]

Thanks for all of your kind and valuable advice. I will be sure to check out that article.

#6

Ok, so I went to see my Doctor. He said that I have a mild pull and that it should last a couple of weeks. He said I could exercise and that I need to let the pain be my guide as to any constraints.

Mind you this guy is not a Sports Doc and he works at Kaiser Permanente. To his credit, when I told him how I injured myself (front squatting) he didn’t preach to me about how I should give up weightlifting in favor of synchronized swimming.

Since I dont feel any pain (really, it just feels sore…not painful at all) until I get well below parallel in the squat, I was wondering if you guys think it would be alright for me to do power cleans and power snatches. I imagine stuff like push presses, snatch deadlifts would be ok.