Do weak glutes cause knee pain?

Short answer

No. In an analysis that followed 4,818 people, weak hips were not a risk factor for pain at the front of the knee, and hip weakness looked more like a result of the pain. Still, adding hip exercises to knee exercises reduced pain more.

Do weak glutes cause knee pain?
'Weak hips → knees cave in → knee pain' — does this formula hold?
Pain at the front of the knee (around the kneecap) during squats or runs is common. A popular explanation says weak muscles on the side of the hip let the knee cave inward, and that causes the pain. We checked this formula against the research.
People with knee pain had weaker hips
That part is true
An analysis of studies on pain at the front of the knee found that people who already had pain had weaker hip muscles than pain-free people. This was true for both men and women. But this was measured after the pain started. To know whether weakness causes pain or pain causes weakness, you have to measure before the pain starts.
Measured before the pain started
Weak hips were not a risk factor
An analysis that pooled 18 studies measured strength first and then followed 4,818 people; 483 of them (10%) developed pain at the front of the knee. Weak hips did not raise the risk of developing pain. The researchers concluded that hip weakness is more likely a result of the pain than its cause.
Some results even pointed the other way
Those who developed pain had stronger hips
Researchers followed 255 teenagers through a basketball season, and 38 developed pain at the front of the knee. Their hip strength for pushing the leg out to the side was about 18% higher than in the 217 who stayed pain-free. In the 4,818-person analysis, what predicted pain was weak front-thigh muscles (in military trainees), not the hips.
So are hip exercises useless?
They matched thigh exercises
200 people with pain at the front of the knee were split into a 12-week hip exercise program or a front-thigh exercise program. Knee pain and function scores improved by 7.0 and 7.6 points, a gap of 0.6 points, and the two programs were judged equally effective.
Adding them made a difference
Knee exercises plus hip exercises cut pain more
A 2025 analysis pooling 6 randomized trials with 241 people found that adding hip exercises to knee exercises improved pain and daily function more than knee exercises alone. Yet muscle strength did not differ between the groups. The pain did not drop because the hips got stronger.
Bottom line: weak hips were not the cause
But hip exercises still reduced knee pain
Weak hips did not raise the risk of pain at the front of the knee and looked more like a result of the pain. A 2024 guide built on 65 trials with 3,796 people recommended knee exercises as the base, with hip exercises added. Adding hip exercises reduced pain more.