Knee Pain Treatment

Knee pain is a common complaint we treat at Wilston Physiotherapy & Massage. Whether you injured your knee twisting, getting out of a car, slipping on wet grass, or developed gradually increasing pain after increasing your running distance.

A thorough assessment is required to help identify the underlying factors, to have a treatment that goes beyond just rubbing the tight muscles and giving basic stretches. Often other factors are at play, whether it’s the way you move or perhaps compensation in other areas following an ankle, hip or back injury. If these aren’t addressed then often the pain will return down the track.

• Experienced practitioners: Our team includes AHPRA‑registered physiotherapists, remedial massage therapists and acupuncturists who stay current with the latest research and techniques.

• Integrated care: We combine physiotherapy, manual therapy, exercise, massage and acupuncture to address pain from multiple angles. Evidence shows that both manual therapy and targeted exercise improve knee pain and function.

• Personalised programmes: Your treatment is personalised to you, you shouldn’t feel like the therapist is just following the same routine or formula for every patient. Your condition is individual to you and so should your treatment.

• Evidence‑based practice: Our treatments are grounded in research and current clinical guidelines. We educate you on the rationale behind each intervention and monitor your progress.

• Friendly local service: Conveniently located near Wilston in Grange, we offer flexible appointment times and a welcoming environment where you’ll feel supported and motivated.

Our treatment programmes combine evidence‑based manual therapy, targeted exercise and patient education. Physiotherapy remains the cornerstone of care. A 2013 randomised controlled trial that compared manual therapy, exercise therapy and a combination of both for knee and hip osteoarthritis found that manual therapy plus usual care produced the largest reduction in pain and disability after one year, while exercise therapy improved physical performance.

Another 2025 umbrella review of systematic reviews concluded that muscle‑strengthening and aerobic exercises are consistently associated with improvements in pain, physical function and quality of life in knee osteoarthritis. Although the authors noted heterogeneity across studies, they recommended exercise as a core component of conservative care.

In practice, this means we prescribe strengthening exercises as well as balance exercises, stretching and aerobic conditioning – to address muscle imbalances, improve joint stability and enhance overall function. We also run strength classes to help you with your technique and conmtrolling your volume of exercise. Manual therapy techniques such as soft‑tissue release, joint mobilisation and patellar mobilisations help reduce stiffness and restore normal mechanics. Education on posture, footwear, weight management and pacing strategies empowers you to manage your symptoms between sessions.

While physiotherapy is the foundation of our back‑pain programme, we often integrate other modalities when appropriate. Remedial massage helps relieve muscle tension, increase circulation and accelerate recovery. Acupuncture and dry needling can modulate pain by reducing trigger‑point activity and altering pain pathways.

Recent research supports a combined approach. A randomised trial compared core‑stabilisation exercise alone, exercise plus manual therapy and exercise plus kinesiotaping. Adding manual therapy to core stabilisation produced a 54.7 % improvement in disability scores after three weeks, compared with 27.1 % for exercise alone. A systematic review and meta‑analysis of 11 randomised controlled trials reported that acupuncture combined with core muscle exercises significantly improved pain scores and functional status compared with core exercises alone. A multicentre trial on lumbar disc herniation found that acupuncture combined with spinal manipulation reduced pain and improved function more than acupuncture or manipulation alone. Another prospective cohort study showed that two sessions of manual therapy plus acupressure reduced pain by 25–40 mm on a 100 mm scale and lowered functional disability, with over 75 % of patients reporting clinically meaningful pain reduction.

These studies highlight the benefits of integrating manual therapy, acupuncture and exercise. Our therapists coordinate care across these modalities to ensure each complements the other. For example, you may have a physiotherapy session to learn exercises that stabilise your spine, followed by remedial massage to release tight muscles, and acupuncture to modulate pain or to enhance your recovery.

If knee pain is limiting your life, early assessment and targeted treatment can make a substantial difference. Our team will work with you to develop a plan that reduces pain, restores movement and builds long‑term resilience. Call our clinic or book online to start your recovery.