Knee bend at landing

What it is

The angle of your knee when your foot lands, in degrees. 0° is a straight leg. Technically it is called knee flexion at initial contact. A softly bent knee lets your leg act like a spring.

How we measure it

We need a pod on the thigh and a pod on the shin of the same leg. Each tracks its tilt 100 times a second; the knee angle is the thigh angle minus the shin angle. Both are measured against your standing pose, so stand still for 3 seconds at the start. Without it, this number is hidden.

Typical range

Outside that stays "watch" (outside the typical range); it never turns into "Work on".

How sure we are

Medium. Studies comparing motion sensors with lab cameras find a typical difference of 4–8° for the running knee. Good for trends and left vs right. See how confidence works.

What you can try

Cue: "soft knees".

• Land soft and quiet on easy runs.
• Raise your steps per minute by about 5 %; quicker steps usually come with a softer knee.

Research links a straighter knee at landing with more braking.

Good to know

See also knee absorbing the landing and where your foot lands. This needs 4–5 leg pods; see how many pods you need.