Discussion: bending

When you bend it like you're saying, is this bending (flexing) in the normal direction, i.e. your heel swings toward your butt? (I don't have any wisdom on this topic, I just want to understand the nature of your affliction.)

Yes, in the normal direction. I can get it to about an 80 degree angle before it starts to hurt. The good knee goes to about 40, which isn't great, but is a whole lot better.

I don't think that people with good knees could ever imagine the pain that bending it too far brings. It is my biggest worry when I'm orienteering. Sorry you had to go through that.

Kissy, if you ever get a brace they do have stops you can put in to keep your knee from bending beyond a certain point. I don't know how well it works. Sandy said she thinks her knee gets a little better after over bending, so she hasn't tried it either.

You're probably right, Kissy. Never having experienced this, I don't even have any idea where it might hurt. But I want to be aware of the issues in case I start getting symptoms someday so that I can take early action and hopefully forestall more damage.

The pain is probably from a nerve getting pinched or something like that since once the pain goes away (after a few minutes), it really is just gone. It's completely different than the normal day-to-day pain and discomfort from having trashed knees.