Without doubt squatting is one of the best exercises an athlete can perform for any discipline but “How we Squat” is a very touchy subject in the fitness industry.
In my opinion “Form” is King and the weight and depth of squat are secondary. By all means these can and should be developed but only after the athlete is competent in the movement. Too often being able to perform a movement with a heavy load is regarded as been strong and competent regardless of how it was achieved. The flipside of that is repetitive bodyweight high intensity movements to exhaustion again regardless of how the movements where performed like we sometimes see in a Bootcamp setting.
Is the essence of strength training not to improve our performance & prevent injury??? So why can’t we start simple, understand a movement and then slowly develop it, ultimately teaching our body a more efficient way to move, thus achieving what we started to do in the first place.
In the video, we have an athlete complaining of lower back pain discomfort while performing Back Squats. He had recently just upped his weight to 80 kg, 8 reps X 3 sets.
The treatment and discussion revolved around: (Please have a listen and watch the video below)
- Back Squat V Front Squat
- Anterior Pelvic Tilt in the Start position V Neutral Back
- Leg position
- Rounding of the lower back (i think it’s ok to slip into a neutral butt wink but not flexion )
- Cues while performing the movement
https://www.facebook.com/physioperformancedrogheda/videos/1228431837170210/
Every athlete is individual, so they should be assessed on this basis, figure out what type of movement suits them, start simple and progress as their competency improves.
I know I have only scratched the surface here and know there is a lot more in-depth discussion that could be had but to summarise:
Squatting is good and doesn’t damage your back, start light & develop good form, work to form failure and not exhaustion and progress as able.
If you would like a detailed assessment of any of your exercises please contact the clinic on 
086-1958223, PM on Facebook or check out 
www.physioperformance.ie/dev