It Band Injury due to Squatting

[pwrlftr2]

I have had problems in both legs the past year from IT Band injury. The problems manifest themselves in the hips and quads. Everytime I do heavy squats in a competition powerlifting suit I seem to really exacerbate the problems. Two weeks ago I was squatting through warmups to 500 and then put on a suit with no wraps and straps down. I tried 550 and there was an immediate knoting pain in my upper quad near the hip. I was able to get up and get racked but could barely walk. Within days all pain had subsided and my leg feels fine now. I am extremely afraid to try anything heavy on squatting now. Anyone got any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I have a meet in three weeks so you can see it is a problem.

[cj1capp]

That Sounds Bad I Have No Personal Experience With Injury But If I Had What You Describe I Would Not Lift Heavy Until I Was Sure My Legs Had Healed.

[Doc.Sust]

i have had this problem. how wide is your stance? also, when you train raw, do you keep a very wide(west side like) stance?

[Doc.Sust]

you can also get massage therapy or ART done on the ITB band or get one fo those foam rollers to help loosen up the trigger point. do you know what i am talking about?

[pwrlftr2]

I'll try to answer all questions. I have a pretty wide stance but not as wide as westside and I train this way raw also. I have just purchesed a foam foller and it does seem to help. I use massage and stretching techniques also. This seems to have alleviated the pain in the hip to where it is hardly noticeable however there is the constant fear that a slight twinge can turn into bad tear in the quads on the very next squat set. I've been battling this problem for over a year now and it has severely damaged my squat. At 181 I should be doing at least 600 in one ply equipment however I can't seem to get above 560 without injuring myself. I do think I will move to a higher weight class but then I would also like to do more weight. It is all very frustrating.

[Doc.Sust]

probably should by a pai fo single plybriefs to train in also move the stance in slightly closer until you heal. you may also try some other exercises like, close stance high bar box squats, suspeneded chain or rack partials, if this was me i would take some time away from fulll motion wide squat movements ,(unless using briefs). also, what is you dead stance like sumo or conv? if sumo, does the itband give you any problems when pulling?

[pwrlftr2]

I'm conventional deadlifter and I have no problems deadlifting with the injury. I do most of my reps off a 4" plate. Last week pulled a triple with 570 which off the floor translates to 650-680. As you can see my squat is lagging way behind my deadlift. The briefs sound like a good idea, I hadn't thought about them. I have some and I will try them. I have a meet in a few weeks but after that I will try to heal up before getting back into heavy squats. Thanks for your help everyone.

[Doc.Sust]

what weight class are you in?

[pwrlftr2]

I move up and down between 181, and 198. I think I will go back to 198 soon because I had no leg problems in that weight class. I lift drug free in one ply equipment so obviously can't lift the kind of weights the big guys do. I am around 1550-1600 at 181 and have totalled closed to 1700 at 198.

[mavsluva]

Man, Iliotibial Band (IT Band) pain is the worst! I had some issues with the IT band in both my left and right knee as a runner years ago. The most common cause of IT Band inflamation and pain is ones pelvis being out of alignment. I highly recommend seeing a chiropractor or sports therapist for this. They will realign your pelvic bone by torquing your torso and it will help remedy the problem fairly quickly. Also, they will recommend a a few stretches to keep this from happening in the future.

[Superhuman]

I used to get terrible knee and hip pain when I squatted because my feet were too close together (about shoulder width) and sense I'm tall that doesn't work for me. Now, I use a really wide stance which allows me to do ALOT more weight without any pain at all. I'm hitting 595lbs for 6 reps today!

[Doc.Sust]

I move up and down between 181, and 198. I think I will go back to 198 soon because I had no leg problems in that weight class. I lift drug free in one ply equipment so obviously can't lift the kind of weights the big guys do. I am around 1550-1600 at 181 and have totalled closed to 1700 at 198.

get that total ro 1725-1730 and you have an elite total!keep up the good work, i hit elite at 181, now iweight 220 and justdo push pull meets, i dont like comp squats anymore, to subjective depending on the organization youlift in and the gear is out of control, i was working with a boss suit the other da m and i coulndt get 600lbs even close to parallel,i dont know how much weight it will take me to get to depth, but i am not going tofind out, i feel unsafe walking around with that weight.