Knee Pain: What Causes It and What Can You Do About It?
Few things are more frustrating than knee pain.
It can make workouts uncomfortable, stairs feel like a challenge, and everyday activities more difficult than they should be. The frustrating part is that the knee is often blamed for a problem that starts somewhere else. When someone says, "My knee hurts," the next question shouldn't be, "What's wrong with your knee?" It should be: "Why is your knee being forced to do more work than it's supposed to?"
Understanding that distinction is often the first step toward long-term improvement.
The Knee Is Caught Between Two Major Joints
The knee sits between the hip and the ankle. Because of its position, it depends heavily on both of those areas functioning properly. If the hips lack strength or mobility, the knee often compensates. If the ankles lack mobility, the knee often compensates. Over time, those compensations can create stress that eventually turns into discomfort. This is why treating knee pain successfully often requires looking beyond the knee itself.
Common Causes of Knee Pain
Knee pain rarely has a single cause. More often, it's the result of movement patterns, training habits, lifestyle factors, or muscle imbalances that have developed over time.
Here are some common causes:
Weak or UNDER ACTIVE Glutes
Your glutes help control the position of your hips and legs during movement.
When they're weak or underutilized, the knees often absorb forces they weren't designed to handle alone.
This is particularly common during:
Squats
Lunges
Running
Stair climbing
Many people experiencing knee discomfort actually benefit from improving hip and glute strength.
Limited Ankle Mobility
The ankle doesn't get much attention until it becomes a problem.
If the ankle cannot move properly, the knee often has to compensate to achieve the movement your body is trying to perform.
You may notice:
Heels lifting during squats
Knees collapsing inward
Reduced balance and stability
Improving ankle mobility can sometimes reduce stress on the knee significantly.
Poor Movement Mechanics
The body learns whatever movement pattern it practices most often.
If you're repeatedly:
Allowing knees to cave inward
Shifting unevenly from side to side
Squatting with poor control
Landing heavily during activity
The knee may eventually become irritated.
The issue is often less about the exercise itself and more about how the exercise is being performed.
Doing Too Much, Too Fast
Sometimes knee pain develops simply because workload increased faster than the body could adapt.
This can happen when:
Returning to exercise after time off
Increasing running volume quickly
Starting a new sport
Adding too much intensity too soon
The tissues around the knee need time to adapt to increased demand.
Arthritis and Age-Related Changes
As we age, changes in cartilage and joint structures can contribute to knee discomfort.
That doesn't mean movement should stop.
In many cases, appropriate exercise helps maintain:
Joint function
Strength
Stability
Quality of life
Movement is often part of the solution.
What Should You Do If Your Knee Hurts?
The first thing to understand is that pain does not always equal damage. Knee discomfort can develop from a variety of factors, including muscle weakness, poor movement mechanics, overuse, mobility restrictions, inflammation, or a combination of several issues at once.
Because of this, immediately avoiding all movement is not always the best solution. More often, the goal is to identify what the knee may be lacking and address the underlying cause.
The knee depends heavily on the muscles surrounding it for support. Strong quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves help absorb force, stabilize movement, and reduce unnecessary stress on the joint. As these muscles become stronger, the knee often becomes more resilient and better equipped to handle daily activities and exercise.
Mobility is equally important. Many cases of knee discomfort are influenced by limitations in the hips or ankles. When these joints cannot move efficiently, the knee is often forced to compensate. Improving hip and ankle mobility can lead to better squat mechanics, more efficient walking patterns, improved balance, and less stress throughout the entire lower body.
Recovery should also be part of the conversation. Sleep quality, hydration, stress levels, and overall training volume all affect how well your body adapts to exercise. Sometimes the issue is not the workout itself, but the body's ability to recover from it.
If knee pain persists, worsens, or is accompanied by significant swelling, instability, joint locking, or sudden loss of function, it is important to seek evaluation from a qualified healthcare professional. While strength training and mobility work can be powerful tools for improving knee health, proper assessment is essential when symptoms become more severe.
How We Approach Knee Pain at Flexx
At FLEXX, we rarely begin by focusing on which exercises someone should avoid. Instead, we look at why the movement became uncomfortable in the first place. Knee pain is often viewed as a problem isolated to the knee itself, but many times it is a reflection of what is happening throughout the rest of the body.
Our approach starts with evaluating factors such as hip strength, ankle mobility, balance, movement patterns, and training history. These pieces help us identify where compensations may be occurring and what may be contributing to the discomfort.
From there, we build a plan designed to improve the body's overall movement quality rather than simply working around symptoms. By developing strength, improving mobility, refining movement patterns, and supporting proper recovery, many people are able to reduce discomfort, improve function, and move with greater confidence. The goal is not simply to make the knee feel better today, but to create a stronger, more resilient body for the long term.
Because the goal isn't simply having knees that hurt less.
It's having a body that moves better as a whole.