National Knee Day celebrates knees for the mobility and flexibility they give our bodies. Most movements done with legs require knees, which connect the femur bone of the thigh to the tibia bone of the shin. The largest joint in the body, the knee works like a hinge, and can also rotate slightly, allowing the bending and straightening of legs, which in turn permits standing, crouching, walking, running, jumping, and turning. Humans are not born with kneecaps, but instead, have soft cartilage which ossifies sometime between the ages of two and six. The knee joint is covered by the kneecap, which is known as a patella, or "small plate," in Latin. The kneecap is a sesamoid bone, a bone buried within a tendon. Knees are prone to injury: strains can cause ligament and tendon injuries such as chronic inflammation and the tearing of the meniscus, and knees are also susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis, and Ehlers-Danlos, a collagen disorder.

How to Observe

Today's holiday is the bee's knees, so think a little bit about how you want to celebrate it instead of just making a knee-jerk reaction. Here are a few ideas on how to spend the day:

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