Exercises for patellofemoral knee pain

Learn exercises to help with patellofemoral knee pain

After any patellofemoral knee pain, it's important to get movement and strength back. This supports tissue healing and will help you get moving again.

You may not be able to return to your usual exercise levels immediately and improvements may be slow to start with. However, a gradual return to normal activities is the best way to get good short and long term results after patellofemoral knee pain.

When doing exercise you should listen to your pain levels, especially in the early stages. You may find that these exercises increase your symptoms slightly in the beginning. However, they should get easier over time and, with regular practice, can help to improve movement in the knee.

If the exercises do cause some discomfort then taking prescribed medication from your GP or pharmacist may help to keep you exercising.

The exercises in these videos are suitable for people diagnosed with patellofemoral knee pain.

Read more about exercises for knee problems

Please ensure you do these exercises in a safe environment. Only try these exercises if you are feeling well enough.

If you start to feel unwell stop these exercises immediately.

If this is the first time you have attempted these exercises please read the information below before starting.

You should do this exercise while lying down. A good place to do this exercise is on your bed.

Lifting and holding your leg once is one repetition.

  1. Tighten your thigh muscle and gently push the back of your knee into the bed.
  2. Hold for 10 seconds and then relax your leg.

You should do this exercise while lying down. A good place to do this exercise is on your bed.

Bending and straightening your knee is one repetition.

  1. With both knees straight, slowly bend your sore leg by sliding your foot along the floor or bed towards you as far as is comfortable.
  2. Hold this position for 2 seconds before straightening your leg.

You should begin standing up for this exercise with a chair behind you.

Bending and then standing is one repetition.

  1. Begin in a standing position. Slowly bend your knees so that you end up touching the seat behind you.
  2. You can put your arms out in front of you to support your balance. Make sure your bottom just touches the chair behind you - don't sit down completely.
  3. Return to a standing position.

Do this exercise in lying with your head supported, your bed is a good place to do this exercise.

Raising the leg up and then back to the start is 1 repetition

  1. Begin by lying on your side with your head supported
  2. Using your arms for support gently raise your leg up towards the ceiling
  3. Hold for a few seconds and then slowly bring your leg back down to the bed

Make sure that your top leg remains in line with your body as you do this exercise and doesn’t come forward in front of your body

Stand next to a supportive surface such as your kitchen worksurface or a chair.

Stand on the affected leg and lift opposite leg off the floor.

Try to keep your balance for a few seconds. As this gets easier to do try to hold for longer – up to 20 secs.

Stand next to a supportive surface such as your kitchen worksurface or a chair.

Stand on the affected leg and lift opposite leg off the floor.

Gently bend your affected knee a small distance before returning to the starting position and then repeat.

Stand next to a supportive surface such as your kitchen worksurface or a chair.

Stand on the affected leg and lift opposite leg off the floor.

Gently bend your affected knee a small distance before returning to the starting position and then repeat.

In standing step forwards with your affected leg bending both knees whilst lifting up the heel of the back leg and then return to starting point only go as far as feels comfortable.

Stand next to a supportive surface such as your kitchen worksurface or a chair you can place your hands on the surface for support.

Gently bend the knees a short distance and then return to the starting point.

How to tell if you're exercising at the right level

This guide can help you to understand if you're exercising at the right level. It'll also let you see how much pain or discomfort is acceptable.

It can be helpful to rate your pain out of 10 (0 being no pain 10 being the worst pain you have ever had), for example:

  • 0 to 3 - minimal pain
  • 4 to 5 - acceptable pain
  • 6 to 10 - excessive pain

Pain during exercise

Aim to keep your pain within a rating of 0 to 5. If your pain gets above this level, you can change the exercises by:

  • reducing the number of times you do a movement
  • reducing the speed of a movement
  • increasing rest time between movements

Pain after exercise

Exercise should not make your existing patellofemoral knee pain worse overall. However, practicing new exercises can sometimes cause short term muscle pain as the body gets used to moving in new ways. This kind of pain should ease quickly and your pain should be no worse the morning after you’ve exercised.

How many and how often

You should add exercises into your routine gradually to help your patellofemoral knee pain.

Movement exercises

Repetitions are how often you do a single movement. When starting new exercises, it can be helpful to do 2 to 3 repetitions at a time.

It’s better to do small amounts throughout the day. For example, practise your repetitions every hour.

As this gets easier, and if you feel able to, add 1 or 2 repetitions to your movements every few days.

As you become able to do more repetitions, it can be helpful to break things up into sets. This means you could do more repetitions at a time but you'll do them less often throughout the day. For example:

  1. Do 8 repetitions.
  2. Rest for a minute.
  3. Repeat another set of 8 repetitions.
  4. Repeat this 2 to 3 times a day.

Over time you can try to increase the number of repetitions you do. You should aim for a maximum of 2 sets of 15.

Stretching exercises

The aim of a stretch is to hold a position for a longer period of time. Over time this can help to improve your range of movement.

When doing the exercise you should be able to feel a gentle stretch. This shouldn't be sore or uncomfortable.

You should try to hold stretches for 20 to 30 seconds if possible.

Try to focus on doing sets of exercises. For example, do 2 to 3 sets of stretches. Aim to do this 2 to 3 times a day.

As you do more stretching you should feel your range of movement improve and you’ll be able to stretch further.

When to stop

Stop these exercises if they make your symptoms worse, or if they cause new pain.

If your patellofemoral knee pain worsens while following this advice, it’s a good idea to talk to a healthcare professional about your symptoms.

Help and support

Read more about self-managing a knee problem

If your patellofemoral knee pain hasn’t improved within 6 weeks of following this advice, it’s a good idea to talk to a healthcare professional about your symptoms.