Sort yours by two questions: where does it hurt, and what sets it off? Vague pain around the kneecap, worst on stairs down and rising after a film, is patellofemoral. A sharp point on the outside that flares at the same running distance is iliotibial band. A tender spot at the kneecap's lower edge that bites jumping or squatting deep is patellar tendon. Patellofemoral is by far the most common, hitting roughly a quarter of active people a year ¹; patellar tendinopathy runs 32 to 45 percent in volleyball and basketball ².

The old advice aimed at the wrong thing. The IT band can't be stretched or rolled loose: it is anchored to the thigh bone and cannot slide across it, so foam-rolling just compresses the sore tissue underneath ³. Patellar tendon pain isn't inflammation either, so ice and ibuprofen never fixed it: the tissue is disorganised collagen that failed to remodel after heavy loading ⁴.

Pick your pattern and load it, three times a week. Pain up to 3 to 5 out of 10 during the work is fine as long as it settles by next morning. Add weight as it gets easy; that progression is the whole point.

The arc is slow, then obvious. The first two or three weeks the knee feels the same and the new muscles are sore, which reads like going backwards; it isn't. By week four the stairs and the first kilometre are quieter. By week eight you have stopped noticing it. And you come out stronger than before: heavy squats push your numbers up, and runners often return at higher mileage than when they got hurt.