thanks for reading my post!

start of the issue: I started running last september (2009) and I got this in october even though I wasn't doing much running yet back then. I have looked up many knee problems online and this problem fits the description of none of them! I hope someone can give advice, nobody so far has been able to.

main symptom: pain behind either knee (where it flexes) or in worst cases, both knees, it is not inside the knee, it feels like it is on the surface of the knee behind. or to say it in another way, it is this part between hamstring and calf, in the behind of your leg. I hope I explained this in a clear way, if not, let me know please.

the pain isn't awfully sharp but is a lot more sharp than dull. it's felt behind the knee, in the middle and below. I think I don't have swelling there, don't have anything visible there, don't feel anything when I touch it.

symptom details: it just started one day in october... a few days of rest didn't change it at all. it usually never hurts during a run or walking (maybe occasionally I feel the pain for 1 sec as if it was strained). then I noticed that it is usually the worst after getting up from a few mins of sitting with flexed knees or after getting up in the morning (I was sleeping with flexed legs/knees by default). so then I identified that a static flexing of the legs is what makes the pain come up and a few seconds of walking where your legs naturally extend-flex-extend, will make it go away fast. it did feel horrible in the first steps but then went away. when I say it felt horrible it was a different pain, not as sharp, it was more like my knee behind was totally rigid and needed warming up. the other pain that is more sharp can just come suddenly for 1 sec, maybe when I put my leg in an incorrect position.

temporary fix: so then after this realization, I started to pay attention not to keep my legs flexed ever. I even sleep with fully or partially extended legs. it seemed and still seems it is happy as long as the knees are not bent too much. if they were bent in 90 degrees or even more bent than that then it would come back.

after a while this temp fix worked so well that I was able to keep my legs flexed during sitting, for hours, and no pain. but sometimes it would lose the tolerance for being flexed and would come back and then I had to pay more attention to keep my legs extended or partially extended, again.

oh, one more note, I noticed that extending the legs too much can also make it hurt. so there is a fine balance. but most of the time it's happy with the extended state. but I think the best really is a partially extended-partially flexed state (but not reaching 90 degrees!!).

attempts at another fix: then I bought a knee support thing for my runs, to see if it will help. well, it seemed to somewhat help, because I hardly got the symptoms anymore, I could sin by keeping them flexed for very long and no problems... note, I still tend to sit with extended legs out of habit and out of cautiousness.

ok, so the knee support strap seemed to help BUT then it caused different knee pain (related to and) along with quads muscle pain after my workouts. this pain was worrying me too much so now I'm off the knee strap, I don't think it's a good fix if it causes another issue...?! the quads pain was pretty sh*t too. and it didn't 100% fix the original issue anyway.

current status: however it (the strap) did probably help with the original problem because now since I'm not using the strap anymore, my knee behinds (particularly behind the left knee) seem to be more sensitive again, though it is controllable most of the time. but not as controllable when seated on a bus where I don't have space to extend my legs. that led to me feeling the left knee behind in my last workout yesterday (not pain, just uncomfortable) when I started it but it went away. (I felt that because I was "sinning" too much with flexing the legs directly before going out for the workout.)

duh and I had to sprint after a bus the day before that, and my left knee behind was unhappy from sitting on another bus 5 mins before that, and it did hurt during the sprint too.

my real question: OK, so please can someone give me any idea what to do to fix this? I do not want this to become worse or chronic! so if you have ideas other than going to a doctor (I don't know of any good sport doctors here where I live but will keep looking!) that'd be so great.