Can Knee Pain Cause a Poor Gait and Other Issues?

Hello and welcome. If you’ve ever found yourself limping or feeling off-balance because of knee discomfort, you’re not alone. Many people notice that a sore knee doesn’t just stay put—it can ripple through your entire body, altering how you walk and leading to new aches in unexpected places. In this post, we’ll explore the strong link between knee pain and changes in your gait, explain the biomechanics behind it, and discuss a clear path forward that includes practical steps and supportive tools. Let’s dive in.

Customer Inquiry:

“Hi, I’m reaching out because I’ve been struggling with a frustrating situation for the past few weeks. After twisting my right ankle during a run, I now have persistent knee pain on the same leg. What’s really worrying me is that my walking pattern has changed—I’m limping without even realising it, and I’ve started to feel soreness in my right hip and lower back. It feels like one injury is setting off a chain reaction! I’m concerned that my altered gait is making everything worse. Could you explain how knee pain might be affecting the way I walk and causing these other issues? Also, I’ve been wondering about knee braces and ankle braces—do you think they could help stabilise my leg and ease the pain? I’m eager to get back to my active lifestyle without causing more problems. Thank you for your advice!”

Our Expert Answer

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. What you’re describing is a classic example of how the body compensates for pain, and it’s something we see often. Let’s walk through exactly what’s happening and build a clear, actionable plan to address it.

The Ripple Effect: How One Injury Can Disrupt Your Whole Gait

When your knee hurts due to an injury or strain, your brain’s primary goal is to protect it. It does this by unconsciously redesigning your walk—a process known as a compensatory gait. Imagine walking while carefully holding a full cup of water; you’d stiffen and shorten your steps. This is similar.

By limping, you unload the painful knee, but you also force the hip on that side to work constantly to hike the pelvis with each step. This can lead to hip muscle fatigue and pain. Furthermore, this pelvic hiking creates a subtle twist and tilt in your lower spine, which its joints and ligaments aren’t designed for, often manifesting as a deep ache in the lower back after walking. This cascade of compensation is why treating just the knee is rarely enough.

A Closer Look at the Anatomy of a Healthy Step

To truly understand the ripple effect, it helps to know what should be happening. A healthy, efficient gait is a finely tuned pendulum motion. Your heel strikes the ground, your foot rolls smoothly to absorb shock, your knee bends slightly to manage impact, and your powerful hip and gluteal muscles propel you forward. This coordinated effort distributes forces evenly from your foot to your spine.

When knee or ankle pain enters the picture, this elegant system is disrupted. The painful joint becomes a ‘break’ in the kinetic chain. Instead of forces flowing smoothly, they get jammed at the site of pain or shunted to other, unprepared areas—like your hip taking over the knee’s job, or your back twisting to compensate for a stiff leg. Understanding this helps explain why the solution is rarely about just treating the one sore spot.

Your Management Plan: Professional Guidance and Foundational Strategies

1. Seek Professional Guidance: The first and most important step is to consult a healthcare provider, such as a physiotherapist or GP. They can determine if your twisted ankle involves ligament damage and diagnose the root of your knee pain, which is essential for a targeted recovery plan.
2. Follow Initial Care Protocols: For acute swelling, use the R.I.C.E. method—Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Avoid activities that aggravate the pain, and ice both the ankle and knee for 15–20 minutes several times a day.
3. Focus on Rehabilitation: Once swelling subsides, the work of retraining your body begins.
   • Ankle Exercises: Regain stability with alphabet drills (drawing the alphabet with your toes) and single-leg balance exercises to improve proprioception—your body’s sense of where the joint is in space.
   • Knee and Hip Strengthening: Rebuild support with straight leg raises, clamshells, and glute bridges. Strong hips are crucial for stabilising the entire leg.
   • Gait Retraining: A physiotherapist can watch you walk and give you cues to help you restore a symmetrical, efficient pattern.

How the Right Support Can Help You Rebuild Stability

While exercises retrain your muscles, supportive devices can play a crucial role in your recovery by providing the external stability your joints need during the healing process. They act as a helpful ‘training wheel,’ allowing you to practice a better gait with less pain and protecting you from re-injury.

Supporting the Foundation: The Role of Supportive Insoles

It all starts from the ground up.

The Problem They Solve: As we discussed, a twisted ankle or a painful knee drastically changes how your foot strikes the ground, leading to poor shock absorption and misalignment that travels up the leg.

Why They Help: A quality insole isn’t just a cushion; it’s a corrective tool. It works by providing a structured arch support and a deep heel cup. This helps to correctly position your foot, improving overall leg alignment and dissipating impact forces before they can stress your vulnerable ankle and knee joints. Think of them as re-setting the foundation of your entire kinetic chain.

What to Look For (& Why Explore Our Range): When your gait is compromised, you need more than a flimsy gel pad. Our range of biomechanically informed insoles is designed with this in mind. We focus on a combination of firm, supportive arch contours that don’t collapse under pressure, and stable, cradling heel cups that control ankle position. This design aims to provide the precise level of support needed to help you walk more symmetrically. If your foundation is the issue, it’s worth exploring our insoles designed to truly correct it.

Steadying the Joint: How an Ankle Brace Can Help

Create a stable base to calm the chain reaction.

The Problem They Solve: A previously twisted ankle often remains unstable and vulnerable, forcing your knee to overwork to compensate for the wobble.

Why They Help: An ankle brace provides targeted reinforcement to the ligaments on the outside of your ankle—the ones most commonly overstretched in a twist. By physically limiting that excessive inward rolling (inversion) and improving your proprioception, it creates a stable base. This allows your knee to relax and stop its over-compensation, directly addressing one source of your knee pain.

What to Look For (& Why Explore Our Range): A great ankle brace should be secure without being restrictive. Our designs often feature sensitive side stabilisers that mimic the support of your ligaments, combined with adjustable fastenings that let you customise the fit for both comfort and the exact level of support you need throughout your recovery. For an ankle that’s letting your knee down, discovering that feeling of solidity can be a game-changer. Explore our ankle supports to find the right one for you.

By stabilising the ankle, you address one source of the knee’s strain. But for the knee itself, dealing with the direct pain and instability, a dedicated knee brace can be the most direct form of support.

Supporting the Knee: When a Knee Brace Makes Sense

Build confidence in the joint at the centre of the issue.

The Problem They Solve: Knee pain creates a fear of movement, leading to stiffness, limping, and a feeling that the joint might “give way.”

Why They Help: A knee brace acts as a reassuring external support system. It provides gentle compression that can soothe the joint and enhance your natural sense of joint position. For many, this is the key to breaking the cycle of fear and stiffness. The added stability helps you trust the knee again, allowing you to focus on walking with a smoother, less guarded pattern.

What to Look For (& Why Explore Our Range): Comfort and intelligent design are paramount. Our knee braces are engineered to provide support without bulk. Features like anatomically shaped hinges or supportive splints help guide the knee cap (patella) and prevent painful movements, while breathable, flexible materials ensure you can wear them comfortably during daily activities. Finding a brace you’re happy to wear is the first step towards moving with more confidence. See if one of our knee supports is the right fit for your journey.

Moving Forward with Confidence

This journey from pain and compensation to stability is about understanding the problem and applying the right solutions. This approach moves beyond temporary relief. It’s about actively retraining your body and providing it the support it needs to rediscover its natural, efficient movement pattern. The ultimate goal is to walk out your door feeling secure, stable, and free from the fear of that next twinge of pain.

By combining professional advice with targeted exercises and considering supportive tools like insoles and braces where they can help, you’re not just masking pain—you’re actively rebuilding. We invite you to explore our curated range of supports to find the one that could help you take that next confident step.

Disclaimer

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional, such as a physiotherapist or doctor, for diagnosis and personalised treatment plans. Do not use braces or any supportive devices over open wounds, suspected infections, or without proper guidance. If you experience severe pain, swelling, numbness, or symptoms that worsen, seek immediate medical attention. Individual results may vary, and this content does not guarantee specific outcomes.