Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General 2 very basic questions. Initiating the squat? screwing into ground Re: 2 very basic questions. Initiating the squat? screwing into ground

#73230
AvatarKatie Hemphill
Participant

In regards to #1, I would wonder whether this MCL heat you’re feeling is actually just an expression of crappy adductors? 

Personally, I have always get sketchy medial knee pain when my adductors are stiff. Generally, a little medial thigh smashing helps alleviate the symptoms pretty quickly. I’ve also suggested this for a couple members at my gym who suffered similar pain, and they had some pretty astonishing results.
It makes sense, too, as you’re seeing you have limited range of motion in the squat. Tight adductors will prevent you from being able to express good hip abduction (knees-outness), and efforts to do so will put more tension in an already overtensioned system, which may be causing your pain.
My suggestion would be test/retest with a little set of air squats, focusing on the motor control suggestions everyone gave for your #2, with a little foam roller adductor smashing in between. You might also gain some decent ground in your squat ROM!