Crossword Genius

Bending regularly at first stops being in pain (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

arching

'bending' is the definition.
(arching is a kind of bending)

'regularly at first stops being in pain' is the wordplay.
'at first' indicates taking the first letters.
'stops' is an insertion indicator.
'being in pain' becomes 'aching' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'regularly' is 'r'.
'r' inserted into 'aching' is 'ARCHING'.

(Another definition for arching that I've seen is " Bending".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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