Help! Stiff knee

[Kyra]

The knee is a stable joint (believe it or not!) caught between two mobile joints, the hip and the ankle. Issues at either the hip or ankle can take themselves out on the knee. If you were using a gait compensation when dealing with your sprained ankle, it may now be manifesting itself in knee pain. Also, the stiffness you get when standing up is a classic sign of patellofemoral pain syndrome. On top of that, if you have been active all your life, you probably do have some OA in your knee, even at age 40. Add an unusual compensatory gait to either of those and you will have pain.

None of which is diagnostic, just food for thought. I don't get the impression you plan to see a doctor about this, so I would stop doing anything you think aggravating it, one thing at a time, until you are seeing positive changes. If the pain persists or worsens, go see an ortho.

Braces? No evidence supporting their use for generalized knee pain. There may be some placebo effect so if you like using it (and a lot of people do) it probably won't hurt you short term but don't look to it as a solution.