You really can find answers for anything on the internet. The answers aren’t always right. In fact, I’ve come to believe that misinformation, rumors and frauds zoom around the web at a rate only slightly slower than the speed of light.
It’s hard to sift out the legitimate information from the crap. That’s why I tend to not run to medical sites on the ‘net to diagnose ailments. Now, once I have a diagnosis, I find it useful to use some respected websites to provide additional information, but I’ve learned not to go on a site and list my symptoms. The last time I did that, I came up with multiple possibilities, with one sounding more dire than the next.
Those caveats aside, my leg continued to bother me today with a pain that’s unfamiliar. I’m used to my usual knee pain. (SO looking forward to the new year when I will continue those injections.) This pain isn’t the same feeling, it doesn’t come from the same location, and it’s at its worst when I’ve been sitting or lying down for a while. Seriously, I get out of bed or stand up from my desk chair and I am downright hobbled for the first several steps.
It reminds me of when I suffered plantar fasciitis. If I got out of bed in the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning, my foot hurt and was tight beyond belief. I learned to stretch and flex my foot before I got up and then was taught some other stretches to use during the day.
Once this behavior comparison came up in my head, I decided to do a broad Google search for “pain behind the knee”. I located a couple different suggestions for what could be causing the condition. Not being a doctor, I couldn’t determine which, if any, actually applied to me. However, one site gave me some great suggestions. I watched the video on where and how to press my thumbs into the muscles behind the knee going toward the upper calf. The guy talked about how the two muscles back there often get tight, particularly after sitting for a while but that a little massage work can often loosen them up.
Since he wasn’t advocating that I get a nice, sharp kitchen knife and attempt to follow along with some DIY surgery, I figured I was safe giving my muscles a little rubdown. Specifically a push-pull-release action.
Much to my surprise and delight, the approach worked! About a minute of working my thumbs into and around the muscles behind my knee significantly loosened them and allowed me to work without such a stiff, painful limp.
About an hour after I first tried this, I had again been sitting at my desk. This time, before I stood up and attempted to walk, I did some muscle massage. Again, it loosened up things and walking was much more comfortable. I’m sold to the point that when I get up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning, I’m going to put my thumbs to work on releasing those muscles before I even attempt to get out of bed.
I might still not have a diagnosis – Internet or otherwise – but for now I appear to have a useful treatment plan.
Weighty Matters 
I’m so glad to read this; I was imagining you spending the holidays with that knee giving you grief. I hope you continue to get more mobile with less pain.
It’s considerably better – back to normal stiffness that loosens up. Thanks for your concern!