T Nation

Leg Pain and Squats

#1

I don't know if I am posting in the right place. I just injured my lower back and I have pain starting from my butt running down my right leg, the pain gets worse when I stay in bed or when I sit down. However, the pain seems to subside when I walk. Two doctors said that it takes quite a long time to heal and prescribed painkillers while a physiotherapist said that I got injured due to incorrect squatting. However, I think it is because I was working out legs with squats and deadlifts twice a week. I guess I was overtraining and I used to feel wiped out the day after leg training. Was I overdoing it?

I always squatted to parallel or a little less. He suggested that I should only do the half squat. My concern is: Will I be hitting the glutes, quads and hams really well when I do half squats?

Thanks

#2

What did your doctors say about resting currently? It seems like they were telling you to take some time off from what you said…

Especially with the pain running down your leg as well from your spine, it seems like you could have slipped a disk or something of that nature. Did your doctors tell you exactly what is wrong? If so, please share…

#3

The fact that the Dr. recommended half squats over learning how to correctly perform full, deep squats probably indicates he feels obligated to give his opinion on something he knows nothing about.

I too am interested in the actual diagnosis…

#4

How long have you had the injury? Is it recent or is it something that happened a while ago and have been suffering with since?
As CornSprint asked, what type of back injury is it … Soft tissue, slipped disk, trapped nerve? The type of injury would determine whether or not, as a beginner, you should be training the Squat at all.

If your concerned about your technique post a video of yourself performing the squat and we can give you a critique … after you’ve healed.
In my opinion half squats are of very little benefit, if they have any benefit at all. If you’ve a tendency to injure yourself doing a back squat, be it due to poor technique or a pre-existing injury, you’d be better off doing leg presses, hack Squat or some variation of the Squat e.g. front squat, Zercher Squat, etc …

#5

Q_Q

#6

i think this is due to faulty technique. check out the squat rx videos.

#7

[quote]tolloxtollox wrote:
… I think it is because I was working out legs with squats and deadlifts twice a week. I guess I was overtraining and I used to feel wiped out the day after leg training. Was I overdoing it?

I always squatted to parallel or a little less. He suggested that I should only do the half squat. My concern is: Will I be hitting the glutes, quads and hams really well when I do half squats?

Thanks[/quote]

since that type of training is actually typical, i doubt it’s over-training. if you fee like hell the next day, well that is not unusual for someone starting an intense program but you can do things to help with recovery. foam roller, BCAA, etc.

review starting strength! get your technique solid and don’t be disinclined to do front squats, bulgarian split squats, etc. these are excellent and you can get your deads and SL deads for the posterior chain.

good luck with healing fast. leg stuff can take a while so don’t push it if the doc told you it’s tendonitis.