A friend had her ankle reconstructed two years ago and that was a real big deal because there are so many parts involved.

Yesterday I scrolled through 50+ slides posted by Dave-the-Gnome on his Facebook page, with remarks about the route. It was a wonderful trip up a small (compared to say, North America) mountain and as they approached the top the boulders and slick areas and steepness made for some work. And as I looked at the photos of going back down I thought "That's going to make the knees hurt." And of course, that is because of my experience on the downhill portion of long backpacking and climbing trips. And is probably why my knee was a mess, and my friend with the ankle surgery has even more of those downhill treks to her backpacking record.

However you got to this point, good luck achieving a level of comfort for the future!