Retropatellar Chondropathy

There it is — that grinding behind the kneecap. A friction you sometimes hear, sometimes only feel — when climbing stairs, when standing up after sitting for a long time, when running. The pain comes on gradually. First a discomfort, then a stabbing sensation, then days when you'd rather not bend your knee at all. The kneecap, which should glide smoothly in its groove, is rubbing against rough cartilage. Something that should be soft and elastic has become hard and brittle.

Orthopedics explains this with overuse, malalignment, muscular imbalance. And these factors do play a role — on the structural level. But BodySignal asks further: What is happening in your inner life that expresses itself in exactly this image — hard friction where smoothness should be? What inside you has become so rough that even moving forward becomes a point of pain?