Knee pain is something athletes deal with far too often — lifters, field athletes, court athletes, and even weekend warriors all run into it eventually. But what most people don’t realize is that knee pain rarely comes from the knee alone.
More often, it’s coming from the position your body is in when you move.
If you find yourself squatting too upright, hinging too little, or powering every movement from your knees instead of your hips, your joints eventually tell you they’ve had enough. The good news? You can fix this — and you can get back to powerful, pain-free movement again.
Let’s break down why knee pain happens, what positions lead to better mechanics, and how learning to “get low” in the right way can transform your strength, explosiveness, and resilience as an athlete.
This blog expands on the concepts taught in the video transcript you provided, where the emphasis was on mobilizing tissue, improving position, and using kettlebell swings as a tool to retrain athletic mechanics.
Why Position Matters More Than You Think
Most athletes who struggle with knee pain focus solely on the knee joint. They stretch their quads, scrape their tendons, roll their IT band, and massage the area. All of these can be helpful, but they only address the surface level of what’s causing the pain.
Pain is often the last sign your body gives you when something isn’t moving well.
If your knee is painful, it’s usually because:
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Your hips aren’t absorbing load
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Your trunk isn’t positioned well
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You’re bending at the knee instead of hinging
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You’re staying too tall in movements that require “getting low”
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You’re generating force through the wrong joints
One of the most common things we see at Bax Performance and Rehab is athletes squatting, cutting, or jumping from a position that is way too upright.
Think about the last time you squatted with pain.
Chances are, your torso was vertical, your knees were forward, and the load was sitting entirely on your knee joint. That’s not where the power lives.
The power — and the protection — come from your hips.
Step 1: Mobilize the Tissue (But Don’t Stop Here)
Before we talk about better mechanics, we need to start by addressing the immediate stiffness. If your tissues are tight, any position is going to feel uncomfortable, and your knee will be the first joint to complain.
You can use:
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A foam roller
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A knee scraping tool
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A lacrosse ball
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Soft tissue massage
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Light mobility drills
This step matters, but it is not the solution.
It is simply preparing your body to receive the solution.
If all you do is roll your knee and stretch, the pain will always return.
Step 2: Fix the Position. Get Stronger in the Right Places
After tissue mobilization, the most important thing is learning to move from better positions.
And this is the part most athletes miss.
Everyone thinks they’re moving correctly… until we put them under a bar or have them squat in front of a mirror. Almost every patient struggling with knee pain who comes to BPR starts their squat like this:
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Torso upright
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Knees forward
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Weight dumped into the quads
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Zero hip hinge
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No power position
Then they wonder why their knees hurt.
To fix knee pain, you need to train yourself to get lower from the hips, not from the knees. That requires a hinge pattern, not a squat pattern alone.
Enter one of the most underrated tools in sports rehab:
The kettlebell swing.
Why Athletes Must Learn to Hinge
A proper kettlebell swing is not a knee-dominant movement. It is a hip-dominant one — and that’s why it’s pure gold for athletes.
What a Poor Position Looks Like
When athletes perform swings incorrectly, they squat the weight up and down. Their movement looks like a vertical drop and lift. That means all the force runs through the knee joint and not the hips.
This is the same faulty pattern that leads to painful squats, weak cuts, and inefficient change of direction.
What a Strong Position Looks Like
A good kettlebell swing teaches:
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Hip hinge
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Glute power
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Neutral spine
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Hamstring loading
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Explosive hip drive
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Knee protection
Instead of lifting with the quads, you learn to:
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Push the hips back
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Load the hamstrings
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Snap the hips forward
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Produce force from your center
This is the exact position used in:
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Jumping
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Sprinting
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Cutting
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Changing direction
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Taking off
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Landing
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Acceleration
That’s why kettlebell swings aren’t just “a conditioning tool.” They are a positional training tool.
Step 3: Understand the “Get Low” Principle
Athletes who cut, jump, or sprint from upright positions lose power immediately. They’re too tall to engage the hips, too vertical to use the glutes, and too knee-dominant to absorb force safely.
To be explosive, you must get low... but not by bending your knees alone.
You have to:
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Lower your hips
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Push your butt back
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Keep your torso forward
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Maintain a strong hinge
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Create angles that allow power transfer
When athletes learn this, their knee pain starts to disappear because the knee is no longer handling forces it was never built to handle alone.
When your hips, glutes, and hamstrings start doing their job, everything changes.
Step 4: Use Kettlebell Swings to Reinforce Proper Position
If you want to retrain athletic movement, you need reps — lots of them. Kettlebell swings give you hundreds of reps in the exact pattern that your sport demands.
Here’s how to perform them correctly:
The Setup
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Stand with feet shoulder-width apart
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Place the kettlebell slightly in front of you
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Push your hips back to reach the handle
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Keep the spine neutral
The Hike
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Drag the kettlebell back between your legs like a football hike
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Stay tight through the lats
The Swing
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Drive the hips forward explosively
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Let the bell float up — do not lift it
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Keep your knees soft, not locked
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Hinge again as the bell comes down
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Maintain rhythm and control
The Payoff
You learn the athletic “power position” — hips back, shins angled, torso forward — the same position used in every explosive sport movement.
That’s why kettlebell swings are one of the best tools for knee pain rehab and performance training.
Step 5: Apply This Position to Real Sports Movements
The ultimate goal isn’t to master a kettlebell swing. It’s to translate that hinge pattern into:
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Squatting
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Jumping
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Landing
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Sprinting
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Cutting
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Deadlifting
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Changing direction
If the hinge pattern becomes your default, your knee will naturally become more protected and more efficient under load.
Most knee pain disappears once the athlete learns to stop being upright and start moving from better angles.
Why “Getting Low” Solves Knee Pain
Here’s the biomechanics behind it:
Getting Low Shifts Load to the Hips
The hips are massive, powerful joints designed to handle load.
When movement becomes hip-dominant, the knees immediately feel relief.
Getting Low Improves Force Absorption
The hinge pattern lets the hamstrings and glutes act as shock absorbers.
Getting Low Improves Power Output
Vertical athletes become more explosive when they learn to hinge.
Getting Low Improves Movement Efficiency
Your body stops overusing the quads and begins using the posterior chain.
Getting Low Reduces Knee Joint Stress
Less shear force → less irritation → less pain.
Position is everything.
When to Seek Professional Help
If you’ve tried foam rolling, stretching, or resting with no long-term relief, you’re likely missing the positional component. At Bax Performance and Rehab, we help athletes throughout Pleasanton, Livermore, and the Tri-Valley rebuild knee function by addressing:
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Joint mobility
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Movement patterns
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Strength imbalances
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Athletic positioning
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Sport mechanics
You don’t just get out of pain. You get stronger, more explosive, and more resilient.
The Bottom Line
You can mobilize your knee all day long but if you don’t fix your positioning, the pain will always return.
Learning how to hinge, get low, and use the hips properly will completely change the way your knees feel and the power you can create as an athlete.
If you want to stop knee pain for good, stop relying on your knees and start training your positions.
🎥 Watch the Full Video
See how proper positioning and kettlebell swings should look like:
Ready to Fix Your Knee Pain for Good?
We help athletes rebuild their mechanics, fix their pain, and unlock better performance.
📞 Call/Text: (925) 397-0399
📧 Email: Abigail@BaxPerformanceRehab.com
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