You shouldn't ever have to be bearing down hard on an auger to get it to cut; very little. As mentioned, ease up on it before ya break through and pull it up. After having knee surgeries, repairs,and needing knee replacemants now due to sports injuries, I'm thinking you have something else going on with your knees. They shouldn't hurt when pulling up an auger as the majority of the strain is in the lower back and shoulders/arms. Just sayin'.......