Groin pain when squatting may be due to various causes, including an abrupt increase in training or exercise intensity, poor foot positioning during the squat, weakness in hip mobility and limited hip range of motion.
Starrett notes that sitting for extended periods can shorten major muscles around the hip and decrease their range of motion, potentially causing the femur to strike the hip socket earlier than intended and cause pinching pressure on its way.
Overuse
Every time you squat for exercise or pick something off the floor, your hips take an incredible strain. Overuse can lead to micro-tears in muscles, ligaments and tendons in your hip joint; your body reacts by producing pain to stop you from continuing the movement so as to limit further damage. Groin pain may come on suddenly or gradually depending on how heavy a load your hips carry.
Squatting utilizes many muscle groups, including your quadriceps and glutei maximi in the legs, the iliopsoas muscle in your pelvis and adductor muscles in your inner thigh – especially adductors for hip extension during movement – but also involves your lower back and hamstrings as this activity requires balance and stability across your entire body.
Squatting requires that your feet are separated at an ideal distance, enabling you to bend at the knees and sit low into an inverted V position. The exact spacing depends on your height and bone structure, with too close feet making squatting difficult and increasing balance issues; overusing quadriceps and iliopsoas muscles resulting in overwork and eventually leading to groin pain.
Squatting requires proper execution to avoid placing undue stress on your lower back and groin. To do so safely and avoid injury, stand with feet at a comfortable distance apart and imagine pushing outward as though pulling on an invisible resistance band when going into your squat position. When coming up, avoid locking knees but instead drive your heels into the floor rather than locking knees on return – both techniques should help ensure an efficient workout!
Some individuals experience femoroacetabular impingement when they squat, known as femoroacetabular impingement. The sensation could feel similar to clicking or catching, or it could spread throughout your groin area. This pain could be the result of poor mobility or stability elsewhere in their bodies or due to natural anatomy of their hips.
Poor Form
Your groin pain could be the result of poor form. To achieve optimal squatting results, keep your lower back neutral, your chest proud, shoulders back. This prevents rounding at the base of your squat and increases hip mobility for deeper squats to build bigger quads.
One common squat error is having your knees too far forward, which strains your knees and prevents you from breaking parallel, decreasing strength in your thighs. Conversely, too much back squatting causes hips to move up too quickly and compromises posture – neither error will be beneficial to either hip or back health.
Pointing Your Knees Forward
Squatting with feet shoulder-width apart and pushing out knees while you squat can be safer for both knees and hips, making it easier to break parallel and engaging more groin muscles during each rep. Furthermore, this positioning prevents your lower back from rounding in an unsafe manner that compresses spinal discs that could herniate in turn preventing herniation from occurring.
At the top of a Squat, your elbows must be behind your torso or you risk losing your natural arch and experiencing upper-back rounding or shoulder pain. To prevent this from occurring, push out with knees while keeping forearms inclined rather than vertical as this could strain wrists and elbows.
Before unracking and lifting a bar over your head, make sure that it is centered on you body. Any weight that falls to one side could create uneven strain on knees, hips and spine which could potentially cause injury – the best way to check is asking someone else or using a mirror.
Once the bar is over your head, it should rest on either your traps or between your traps and rear shoulders (lower bar), so when squatting, its force from quads and glutes pulls it up into parallel position – holding it any lower will cause it to slide downward and bend your wrists, potentially straining them in the process.
Injuries
Groin injuries caused by squatting aren’t common, but can occur if your body becomes overtaxed or without the appropriate training. If an injury to any muscles or tendons connective to hip bones or inner thigh bones occurs, heavy squatting must cease immediately to allow proper recovery.
The rectus femoris muscle that both flexes the hip and extends the knee joint is highly vulnerable to injury from deep squats, particularly if mobility in this area is lacking; prolonged squatting could result in permanent damage over time if hip flexors are tight, thus impairing performance of deep squats.
Injurys may result from lifting too much, and not being prepared to transition between free squat and overloaded squat squat. Even previously injured muscles and joints may resurface if you lift too much; lifting excessively causes strain or tears in the muscle tissue and may aggravate existing conditions.
Hip impingement, also known as hip impalement, occurs when there is excessive pressure placed upon your adductor muscle while you squat. This pressure may come from tightness causing you to place feet too close together when squatting, or from refereed back pain from your lumbar spine causing this type of injury – often seen among athletes who engage in repetitive leg work such as sprinting or kicking ball and exert repeated strain on hips and inner thighs.
Squatting may bring on hip adductor tendinopathy, an inflammation of the tendons connecting your hip adductor muscles to pelvis and thigh bone. This condition may develop from overuse or repeated stress on hip adductor muscles; or as a result of an old injury that was not properly addressed and rehabbed.
A physiotherapist can assist in diagnosing the cause of your groin pain when you squat. After conducting an assessment and using various treatment techniques such as stretching, range of motion exercises and core activation in plank position to address any potential issues, they may suggest creating an effective warm up routine to prime muscles and improve technique prior to squatting.
