Muscles and Tendons
The knee is bent (flexed) by the hamstrings and their tendons that attach to various parts of the knee joint. The knee is straightened (extended) by the powerful quadriceps muscles on the front of your femur. The quadriceps muscles power your ‘extensor mechanism’. The extensor mechanism also consists of the quadriceps tendon above your knee-cap, the knee-cap and the patella tendon below your knee-cap.
The knee joint is ‘trapped’ between the hip and the ankle joint and indeed the spine. Any abnormality of these joints, muscle imbalance or pain can thus be felt as a ‘knee problem’.