Home exercise sheet

Knee pain

Move slowly and stay in a range that feels comfortable. Mild stretch or effort is fine; sharp pain is a signal to stop.

Name:How often:Clinician:

1. Clamshell
10 to 12 each side
1. Lie on your side with your knees bent to roughly forty-five degrees
2. Keep your feet together and lift the top knee
3. Lower with control and repeat
2. Glute bridge
10 slow lifts
1. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat and about hip-width apart
2. Press through your heels and lift your hips
3. Lower slowly, one vertebra at a time
3. Shallow chair pose
5 slow reps
1. Stand with your feet hip width, arms comfortable
2. Bend your knees only a small amount
3. Send your hips back a little as you bend
4. Use whichever prop makes it kinder to stay
5. Then stand tall
4. Heel raise
10 to 12 reps
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, near a wall or chair
2. Rise onto the balls of your feet
3. Lower slowly, over about three seconds
5. Figure 4 stretch
30 seconds each side
1. Lie on your back with both knees bent, feet flat
2. Reach through and hold behind the supporting thigh
3. Draw that thigh gently toward you and hold

The guidance behind these movements

Patellofemoral Pain, clinical practice guideline, Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy (JOSPT 49(9), 2019). Progressed exercise therapy targeting both hip and knee is recommended, and the combination is preferred over knee-targeted exercise alone, with hip-targeted work potentially favoured early.
NICE NG226, osteoarthritis in over 16s (2022). Where knee pain is osteoarthritis, therapeutic exercise tailored to the person, including local muscle strengthening, is offered to everyone.