Hi there,

Being unable to straighten isn't terribly unusual, but it would be helpful to know first if this is a post surgery problem, is this due to limping for an extended time, are you in PT, are you in pain, etc.?  Can you give some additional information so that people can make more meaningful suggestions.

 If it is simply stiffened up after a surgery due to disuse or tightened up due to limping for a while you can try lying with a rolled towel under your heels for five minutes at a time as a starter which will put some stretch behind your knee.  Little by little you will need to gently stretch out your hamstring and that is one way to start.  When you sit in a chair you can prop your feet on another chair of the same height in front of you.  Your knee will be pulled down by its own weight.  I want to warn you not to try this one for more than a minute or so at first since it can be very uncomfortable. 

Hope this helps.  With a little more information I am sure that many more people will post suggestions as well.

Linda

I think you're dealing with muscle weakness, because my leg does a similar thing (minus the whole "SLR's are easy" part). I'm operating on the assumption that a healthy regimen of heel slides will help to fix that problem. Slowly but probably.


I'm correct in saying that you can get the leg straight -- like if you're laying down or whatever -- but it's just the process of actually straightening it on its own that's difficult, right? Because that would indicate (fortunately) that it's probably not any kind of mechanical blockage. Or at least I would assume as much.... I've been wrong a time or two.

Does your OS know about this problem?

Looks like your kneecap is dislocating and popping back into place?    I hope the MPFL reconstruction will stabalize the kneecap for you so that you don't have any further instability.