CartilageForce under the kneecapQuadriceps and patellar tendonsEach time a running foot lands, the knee bends and the thigh muscles brake it. They pull the kneecap hard into its groove at the front of the thigh bone, where thick cartilage takes the force. The deeper the bend, the harder the press.At the same pace, taking more, shorter steps lands the foot closer under the body and bends the knee less. In a lab study of healthy recreational runners, a 10 % higher step rate cut the peak force behind the kneecap by about 14 % on average. That's why the Creator 600 reports cadence and knee angle (Fig 4).Group averages from healthy runners on a lab treadmill, not a prediction for any one runner and not a treatment for knee pain. Knee angles are drawn from typical values and never printed. Shown four times slower than life.