Knee Pain? Should We Be Looking at Your Hips and Feet?

If your knee hurts, treating the knee makes sense… right?

Well, yes.

But it might not be the whole story.

Your knee sits between two pretty important areas:

Your hip above it and your foot and ankle below it.

Every time you walk, run, squat, jump or change direction, all three areas need to work together.

So when someone comes into Fighting Fit with knee pain, we don’t just poke around the knee and call it a day.

We look above.

We look below.

And we work out what your knee needs to get back to doing what you love.

How Can Your Hips Affect Your Knees?

Your glutes play an important role in controlling your pelvis and leg during movement.

When you’re:

Walking
Running
Squatting
Lunging
Jumping
Changing direction

your hip muscles help control how forces travel through the entire leg.

If your hip strength or control isn’t keeping up with the demands you’re placing on it, your knee may have to tolerate more load.

That can be particularly relevant in conditions such as patellofemoral pain.

But this doesn’t mean:

“Your glutes are weak, therefore your knee hurts.”

It’s rarely that simple.

The question is whether your hip strength and control are appropriate for what you need to do.

What About Your Feet and Calves?

Now let’s look below the knee.

Your foot is your connection to the ground.

Your foot and ankle complex helps absorb, transfer and produce force every time you take a step, run or jump.

Things we may look at include:

How your foot moves under load
Ankle mobility
Calf strength
Single-leg control
How you push through the ground
Whether any of these movements reproduce your symptoms

You might have heard that having “flat feet” automatically causes knee pain.

It doesn’t.

Likewise, having high arches doesn’t mean you’re destined for sore knees.

Different feet move differently.

What matters is whether your foot, ankle and calf have the strength, mobility and capacity required for your activity.

What Are We Looking For?

If you’ve got knee pain, a Fighting Fit Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist won’t assess you by looking at your knee in isolation.

Depending on your symptoms and goals, we might assess:

Squatting
Lunging
Running
Walking downstairs
Hopping and landing
Single-leg control
Hip strength
Calf strength
Ankle mobility
Foot movement

And importantly, we’ll test actual strength where appropriate.

Because looking at someone and saying:

“Your glutes look weak.”

isn’t really good enough.

We want to assess, measure and then address what’s relevant.

Building Stronger Hips for Knee Health

If hip strength is one of the gaps we identify, strengthening it can become part of your rehabilitation.

Here are two simple starting exercises.

1. Clamshells

Why?

Clamshells can be a useful early exercise for targeting the muscles around the side of the hip.

How to perform:

Lie on your side with your knees bent.
Keep your feet together.
Lift your top knee while keeping your pelvis controlled.
Slowly lower.
Repeat for around 15 repetitions each side.

Progression:

Try lifting your feet off the ground before opening the top knee while maintaining control through your pelvis.

But remember — clamshells aren’t the end goal.

If you’re trying to run, jump, lift or play sport, eventually your exercises need to become challenging enough to prepare you for those activities.

2. Single-Leg Glute Bridge

Why?

This progresses hip strengthening into a single-leg exercise and challenges your ability to produce force through one side.

How to perform:

Lie on your back with one knee bent.
Extend or lift the opposite leg.
Push through the planted foot and raise your hips.
Lower with control.
Repeat 10–12 times each side.

Again, this is a starting point.

As you get stronger, we want to progress.

Don't Forget the Calves and Feet

Your calves are incredibly important for walking, running and jumping.

So if they’re underprepared for what you’re asking them to do, they’re worth addressing too.

3. Short Foot Exercise

Why?

This can help develop control of the muscles supporting the arch of the foot.

How to perform:

Sit with your foot flat on the ground.
Gently draw the ball of your foot toward your heel to create an arch.
Try not to simply curl your toes.
Hold for five seconds.
Repeat 10 times.

Progression:

Try performing the same movement in standing.

4. Calf Raises

Why?

Strong calves help you produce and absorb force during everyday movement, running and sport.

How to perform:

Stand with your feet comfortably positioned.
Rise onto the balls of your feet.
Keep pressure through the forefoot, including the big toe.
Lower slowly and with control.
Repeat for around 15 repetitions.

Once that’s easy?

Add load.

Move to single-leg.

Increase the range.

Make the exercise actually challenge you.

But Here's the Important Part...

These exercises aren’t a prescription for every person with knee pain.

Someone returning to walking after an injury needs something very different from someone preparing to run 20km a week.

And a field-sport athlete needs something different again.

Your rehabilitation might eventually include:

Heavy calf raises
Squats
Split squats
Step-ups
Deadlifts
Hip strengthening
Running drills
Hopping
Jumping and landing
Change-of-direction work

It depends on you, your current capacity and what you’re trying to get back to.

That’s why we assess first.

Then we build the program.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve got knee pain, don’t forget about what’s happening above and below it.

Your hips, knees, ankles and feet all work together.

That doesn’t mean every sore knee is caused by weak glutes or flat feet.

It means a complete rehabilitation program should assess the entire lower limb and identify which factors are actually relevant to your symptoms.

At Fighting Fit, we don’t just treat the sore spot.

We assess the whole chain, find the gaps and build you back stronger.

Knee Pain Holding You Back?

Whether your knee is stopping you from running, training, playing sport or simply getting through everyday life comfortably, let’s work out what’s actually contributing.

At Fighting Fit, we’ll assess your knee and what’s happening above and below it, then build a rehabilitation program around what you need to get back to.

👉 Book in with the Fighting Fit team and let’s get your whole leg stronger — not just your knee feeling better.

Kyle Wells

Kyle Wells is a Physiotherapist at Fighting Fit Physio.

He has a special interest in arthritis, neck pain and tendinopathy. Just to name a few.

Kyle loves cross fit and has an exceptional eye for technique and performing exercise correctly.

He use exercise to improve patient results and get them moving better for the long term.

Brenda Samosa

2 years ago

I had a really bad shoulder and had been seeing a different physio for 3 months (from a different place) I got told Tyson was good. After just a few sessions the movement was coming back. I’m 66 and was worried I would have to stop surfing. But with a lot of help from Tyson I’m back in the waves ( thank you so so much)

Cyana Ferguson

Steve Harris

Great team, all friendly, super helpful and first class clinical advice and a big shout out to my Physio Noah with my shoulder issue

Andrea Bell

These guys are the best in the biz 🎉

Ryan Brockett

Shout out to Max from fighting fit physio. He helped me out massively straight after shoulder surgery and back into work and sports in no time. Couldn’t recommend anyone better!

Scotty

Five star service from Max & the team!
Professional & very thorough, you know that patient outcomes are of the highest priority.
I highly recommend this business.

Riley Wilson

Be AWARE they’ll immediately try to commit you to multiple follow up sessions after your initial consultation. This happened to me and then I later found out that as it just so happens, they have a cancellation policy that says you have to pay 100% of the consultation fee for cancelling. They failed to tell me this when they were pushy in committing me to 6 sessions after my consult, so that was a really nice little surprise.

I was already uncomfortable with how pushy they were in having me commit to so many sessions, so when I heard about the policy I just cancelled all together. So, I can’t speak further to the quality of their service throughout therapy phase. FYI this was also a few months ago now, it’s possible (though unlikely) they may have changed the policy. Just ask the question.

Megan Shelley

Fighting Fit Physiotherapy is hands down the best physio I've encountered. Having tried multiple physios for various injuries, I always find myself coming back to them. Their expertise consistently exceeds expectations, helping me get back to my sport faster than I thought possible. Their personalized approach and attention to detail make all the difference. I could not recommend a better or more exceptional physio team!

Gina Matthews

3 years ago

Can't recommend this place high enough. I was in so much pain with my knee an had been for months through advise an exercises I'm now looking forward to returning to gym an back riding my horses in endurance thank you so much

Courtney Halse

4 years ago

Kyle was knowledgeable, personable and professional. He saw me through my second pregnancy and continued to work with me until 6 months post partum on issues with my back. Would recommend anyone to go and see him.

Also shout out to Georgia on the front desk. She makes you feel welcome and brings a sense of warmth to the place!

Alli Davenport

After hip replacement surgery in February I wanted toget back into weight training legs, I started with Mitch 18 weeks ago and after a lot of hard work and sweat I am able to safely train again, I cannot thank Mitch enough for his support,encouragement and knowledge. The staff are friendly and helpful and I always looked forward to my session's

Robert Parkinson

This is the second time I have been treated by the team at FFP.
As a health professional myself I have been impressed with the level of care I have received from all members of the team.
The personalised treatment and rehabilitation programs have produced excellent results and I have completed both programs pain free and feeling stronger than before my injuries.
During the program there was constant communication and follow up and they were very accommodating with my work schedule.
All in all it was a very holistic experience and I would highly recommend the service.

Kiri Canavan

Tyson was amazing! We came up with an 8 week plan at my first consultation with weekly check ins and updates to exercises. 8 weeks later, I am pain free and able to train harder than ever. Highly recommend and the staff are all fantastic and super accomodating!

If your knee hurts, treating the knee makes sense… right?

How Can Your Hips Affect Your Knees?

What About Your Feet and Calves?

What Are We Looking For?

Building Stronger Hips for Knee Health

1. Clamshells

How to perform:

Progression:

2. Single-Leg Glute Bridge

How to perform:

Don't Forget the Calves and Feet

3. Short Foot Exercise

How to perform:

Progression:

4. Calf Raises

How to perform:

But Here's the Important Part...

The Bottom Line

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