Abstract The study was conducted on two hundred patients ranging in age from 40 to 70 years with established osteoarthritis knee to examine the association of quadriceps strength with pain and disability of knee osteoarthritis. In addition the relationships between various components of health related fitness, pain, effusion and disability were also examined in the present study. Quadriceps strength seems to be an independent contributor to the severity of osteoarthritis knee; the findings illustrate the need of improving the muscle function in these patients. No association between knee pain and disability indicates that functional limitations in patients with osteoarthritis should be explored separately from the evaluation of symptoms.