Hey Docs,
Summary
I’ve been experiencing chronic knee pain (medial/inner side) in both knees for about 8 weeks now. It mildly hurts when I walk, if I twist my torso while standing, and hurts a decent amount if I sit cross legged or put one foot on top of the other knee when sitting. It also feels ‘uncomfortable’ when I stand with locked knees.
No pain at all while squatting or deadlifting. Weight training is the only physical activity I do.
My stats:
26 year old male
5’7 155lbs
History:
Never experienced any knee pain whatsoever my whole life. Was doing the SSLP and progressing well on squats.
One day after completing my 3x5 of 280lbs, I felt some moderately intense medial knee pain in my right knee about 5 minutes after my last set and it persisted for a few hours.
Next session I squatted 285x5x3 with no pain.
Next session I squatted 290 for one set and got intense medial pain in right knee again, persisting for a few hours. The pain was pretty severe, but went away shortly.
I got a form check after this, and there’s no obvious flaws that should cause such acute intense pain. Little to no knee caving, hitting depth, knees not shoved way forward. I suppose my form could still be wrong, but there’s no SS coaches in my city to hire to confirm.
I deloaded after this, and have worked back up to 290x5x3 with no pain while squatting and no more acute pain after squats.
However, since the deload, I have gradually begun to feel mild to moderate chronic medial knee pain in both knees (previous acute pain was right knee only) . It doesn’t hurt while I squat, so I’ve continued to increase my squat and strength.
After 8 weeks, the knee pain shows no signs of improving, and may be gradually getting worse.
Since there’s no pain while squatting, I’m not sure what my strategy going forward should be. Should I squat alot lighter for awhile and see if it heals up? Continue squatting as normal? Is this something I should see a doctor about? Does this sound like a potential squat technique issue?
Thanks for your time and advice!