Sharp Pain In Knee Cap When Bending

When To See A Healthcare Provider

What is Causing Your Knee Pain? Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome or Kneecap Pain? How to Tell?

Persistent knee problems should be evaluated by a healthcare provider. Talk with a healthcare provider if you have:

Your normal knee pain has changed or worsened
Your pain has persisted for several days
You have an injury
You are uncertain of the cause of your knee pain

If your pain is severe, chronic, or seems to signal a serious musculoskeletal condition, your primary care provider may refer you to a specialist:

An orthopedist is a surgeon specializing in treating joint and bone conditions, especially those that could improve with surgical intervention.
A rheumatologist is a physician who diagnoses and treats autoimmune conditions like RA.

What Can Physical Therapists Do To Treat Posterior Knee Pain

Determining why you have pain behind your knee when bending it is just the first step in your recovery. Treating your knee issue and pain is the next step, and a physical therapist can help treat your posterior knee pain with techniques like:

Aquatic therapy designed to reduce pressure on your injured knee and help improve blood flow to healing soft tissue.

Therapeutic exercises that can stretch and strengthen your hamstring muscles.

Gait training intended to address underlying problems that triggered your knee pain.

Virtual therapy sessions that allow you to receive one-on-one physical therapy right from your home.

How Is Runners Knee Treated

Your healthcare provider will figure out the best treatment based on:

How old you are
Your overall health and health history
How much pain you have
How well you can handle specific medicines, procedures, or therapies
How long the condition is expected to last
Your opinion or preference

The best course of treatment for runner’s knee is to stop running until you can run again without pain. Other treatment may include:

What Causes Knee Pain

The most common causes of knee pain include:

Meniscus tears tears to the C-shaped pieces of cartilage in your knee, which are called menisci
Runner’s knee dull pain at the front of your knee also known as patellofemoral pain syndrome
Sprained ligaments
Tendonitis inflammation of your tendons

Old knee injuries that werent treated correctly can also cause chronic knee pain or knee pain that flares up occasionally.

Conditions Associated With Pain At The Front Of The Knee

There are several medical conditions linked to pain at the front of the knee. They include the following.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is one of the most common reasons for pain at the front of the knee. When you bend and straighten your leg, your kneecap slides up and down a groove at the end of your thigh bone . Patellofemoral pain syndrome describes pain related to this joint. It can happen if theres repeated stress on your knee for example, from jogging, squatting or jumping. It can also result from problems with the alignment between your kneecap and thigh bone. Doctors sometimes call it runners knee. It often happens in people who are very active particularly teenagers and young adults.

Patella tendinopathy means the patellar tendon in your knee becomes worn down. This tendon attaches your kneecap to your shin bone, and it can become inflamed and tear. This can be due to overuse and stress over time, particularly in sports that involve jumping like basketball and volleyball. Because of this, its often called jumpers knee. Quadriceps tendonitis is a similar condition but is less common. It causes pain and tenderness where the tendon from your thigh muscle attaches to your kneecap.

Infrapatellar fat pad syndrome is a condition where the fat pad below your kneecap gets pinched between your kneecap and thigh bone. Its usually due to repeated stress on your knee. Its sometimes called Hoffas syndrome.

Recommended Reading: Yeast Infection Lower Back Pain And Abdominal Pain

It Is Painful When I Bend My Knee What Does This Mean

If you are experiencing knee pain, especially when you bend it to walk, kneel, sit, squat, and more, it is likely that you have a condition or injury that needs treatment. There are many causes of knee pain, and it is incredibly difficult to self-diagnose yourself correctly. This is why it is critical to see an orthopedic specialist with a wealth of experience diagnosing and treating knee conditions and injuries.

Why Do My Knees Hurt When Bending

Knee pain has many origins unrelated to an underlying disease. Injuries due to trauma, overuse or overexertion are common causes of knee pain. Many Americans experience knee pain when bending specifically, which can be troublesome when we dont know the exact reason behind it.

Experts estimate that for every pound we weigh, our knees can be subject to four to six times that pressure when we bend them and/or place them in a weight bearing position. Therefore, bending, climbing stairs and squatting can make certain areas of the knee ache with pain.

Also Check: Endo Pain All The Time

Pain Can Stem From A Condition Or Simply The Way That You Sit

Laken Brooks is a freelance writer with bylines in CNN, Inside Higher Ed, Good Housekeeping, and Refinery29. She writes about accessibility, folk medicine, and technology. She served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Szczecin, Poland, and has worked with various museums and nonprofits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Knee pain when you bend or flex the joint is often caused by arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, or patellofemoral pain. If your knees hurt when sitting, it may be from sitting in the wrong position or sitting for too long.

Most adults will experience knee pain when sitting on their heels or cross-legged. These positions put stress on the knee joints that can cause discomfort. However, if simply bending your knee or lowering yourself to sit in a chair causes pain, you should have your knee examined.

When determining the cause of pain, your healthcare provider will consider the location of your pain and the activities that exacerbate it.

This article details different reasons your knees may hurt when bending, flexing, or sitting. It also discusses ways to relieve knee pain and how to protect your knees to prevent pain.

LightFieldStudios / Getty Images

Treatment Tips For Knee Pain When Bending

How to Fix Patellar Tendonitis (No More KNEE PAIN!)

Treatment for an injury or damage to the knee is based on the underlying cause. Before surgery becomes an option, there are remedies for knee pain treatment.

Apply heat or cold packs to the affected knee
Use a knee brace or supporting device
Rest the knee for a limited time
Perform strengthening exercises for hamstrings and quadriceps
Use specialized shoe inserts
Maintain alignment by taping knee
Avoid applying body weight on affected knee
Use proper footwear for activities

Recommended Reading: Sharp Pain In The Middle Back

Anterior Knee Pain: The Basics

Pain in the front of the knee or anterior knee pain can affect people in all age groups. Approximately 25% of people will suffer from pain in the front of their knees at some time in their lives. I have seen teenagers who can longer participate in sports, and I have 70 years olds who can no longer walk downstairs without fear of their knee giving way. Why is our kneecap or patella so prone to bothering us like this?

The cause of anterior knee pain might vary based on your age, level of activity, and your chosen sports. We can see people who are inactive and suffer from pain in the front of the knee, and we can also see people who are highly trained and disciplined who are suffering from pain around the kneecap. The majority of people who have pain in the front of their knee do not recall any injury.

In the majority of cases of anterior knee pain, we do not find anything significant wrong with your X-rays or MRI scans. It seems that the pain in the front of the knee is often due to imbalances, weakness patterns, movement patterns, and complex issues that can take a while to figure out. Yes, some of you might have a cartilage defect or some early arthritis in the front of your knee but believe it or not, the majority of you will have pretty normal-appearing imaging studies. That has led to a significant change in our approach to anterior knee pain over the years.

Anterior knee pain is particularly common in young women and many runners.

What Is Causing The Pain Behind My Knee When Im Bending It

Feeling pain behind your knee every time you bend it can really make daily tasks harder. After all, bending your knee is vital to actions like putting on your pants and walking up stairs.

Pain behind your knee is also known as posterior knee pain, and you could easily develop this type of pain. After all, medical researchers estimate that about 25% of adults develop frequent knee pain in their lifetime. A physical therapist can help you determine whats causing the pain behind your knee when youre bending it. In addition, these medical professionals can help you find effective treatment for your knee pain.

You May Like: Early Pregnancy Left Side Pain

How Do You Prevent It

There are many measures you can take in your daily life to prevent Sharp stabbing pain in the knee that comes and goes, such as the following:

The following are some ways that may help you treat intermittent leg pain at home:

Exercise regularly. Although exercise can contribute to some leg pain, exercise sessions at least twice a week helped to reduce walking pain and increase the distance a person can walk.
Stop smoking. Smoking is a major risk factor for sharp pains when walking. Smoking can cause changes to blood vessels and make it easier for the blood to clot, which can contribute to leg pain.
Eat a heart-healthy diet. Choosing a heart-healthy diet can help you maintain your weight and blood sugar levels. This can help reduce some of the risk factors that can lead to PAD.
Cross-training. If your leg pain is related to overuse from physical activity, try a new activity thatâs less repetitive on the legs and feet.

Maintaining a healthy weight and taking care of your body can help reduce sharp, shooting pains whenever possible.

403 W Campbell Rd., Ste. 305Richardson, TX75080
7904 NE Loop 820, Ste. CNorth Richland Hills, TX76180
2121 North Main St., Ste. AFort Worth, TX76164
1323 E. Franklin St., Ste. 102Hillsboro, TX76645
2700 W. Pleasant Run Rd., Ste. 320Lancaster, TX75146
301 Hospital Dr. , Ste. 140Corsicana, TX75110
902 Preskitt Rd., Ste 300Decatur, TX76234
13988 Diplomat Dr., Ste. 100Farmers Branch, TX75234

How Did You Hurt Your Knee

Traumatic injuriesare noticeable right away and worsen dramatically the next day as pain and inflammation set in. traumatic injuries typically occur playing sports, during slips, falls, and other work-related accidents. The trauma is caused by the injury exceeding the tolerance of knee structures leading to breaks, ruptures or tears.

Knee ligaments, bones, and menisci are the most commonly damaged structures in the knee joint. Injuries to bone and connective tissue result in long term pain and will impede normal knee function for some time after the initial injury. Less serious traumatic injuries may result in only painful, superficial contusions which heal relatively quickly. If you believe you have incurred serious knee trauma you should visit a doctor as soon as possible. If bone or connective tissue within your joint is damaged a surgical assessment could be required.

A torn ligament in the knee, such as the lateral collateral ligament can be behind a sudden onset of knee pain.

Overuse injuriestypically cause knee pain that comes and goes and varies in intensity. Sometimes our favorite activities subject our knees to stressful movement patterns repetitively. Think jumping, squatting, kneeling, running, lunging type movements. Moving in this way over and over again can irritate knee structures such as bursae, tendons, and articular cartilage.

Also Check: Burning Pain Lower Left Back

Common Causes Of Sharp Knee Pain

The most common causes of sharp knee pain are:

Torn Knee Cartilage: the special cushioning the lines the knee joint
Knee Bursitis: inflammation of anti-friction sac
Knee Arthritis: wear and tear
Loose Body: bone fragment floating in the joint
Fracture: broken bone
Nerve Irritation: nerve gets squashed or irritated

Here we will look at the common causes of sharp knee pain, how they present and how to work out what is going on in your knee. We then look more in-depth at how to treat these different causes of sharp stabbing pain in the knee.

Knee Pain When Bending

Reviewed by: KPE Medical Review Board

Knee pain when bending is a common problem. Forces up to seven times body weight can go through the knee as it bends, so it comes as no surprise that it is such a widespread problem.

Bending knee pain may start suddenly after an injury, or gradually come on over time depending on the cause.

There are a number of different causes of knee pain when bending, but they generally all result from a problem with one of the structures in or around the knee, affecting how it moves.

This changes how the forces travel through the different parts of the knee and can result in too much pressure going through certain parts, which leads to knee pain bending.

Here we will look at the different types of bending knee pain, the most common causes of knee pain when bending, treatment options and what is actually going on in the knee as it bends.

Recommended Reading: Can An Earache Cause Tooth Pain

Sharp Knee Pain Causes By Activity

Sharp Knee Pain When Walking: If the knee pain is worse when you first start walking and then eases, it is likely due to arthritis. If your sharp knee pain gets worse the more you walk, it is likely neural. If it is easier walking uphill or when bent slightly forwards and worse when walking downhill or when upright, it is likely spinal stenosis

Sharp Knee Pain When Bending: If your knee pain gets worse when bending your knee, it is likely a problem in the knee joint such as arthritis or a cartilage tear. If it is worse when bending your back e.g. reaching down to put your shoes on, it is likely due to a problem in your lower back

Sharp Knee Pain When Standing: If the knee pain gets worse when standing still but eases with movement, it is likely from arthritis. If your sharp knee pain gets worse with activity it is likely a mechanical problem in the knee such as a cartilage tear or referred pain from the lower back

Sharp Knee Pain Twisting: This usually indicates that something is getting stuck in the joint, either a loose body or a flap of torn cartilage. It may also indicate instability in the knee due to a ligament sprain or tear

Sharp Knee Pain When Kicking: This usually indicates an issue with the stability of the knee, typically an ACL injury

Severe Sharp Knee Pain: with unrelenting pain usually indicates a fracture of one of the knee bones or something more sinister going on – worth seeing your doctor

Page Last Updated: 12/06/21

Pain At The Front Of The Knee

Treat Knee Cap Pain (Patellar Mobilization Technique)

Excessive stress on the patella tendon at the front of the knee, just below the patella, manifests itself by a burning sensation at the front of the knee .
A severe stabbing pain and swelling at the front of the knee may be due to a partially dislocated patella. The patella normally slides in a groove at the front of the femur, but can slip out due to a sudden twist or impact.
Chondromalacia patellae is a condition due to the cartilage on the under surface of the patella softening and deteriorating. The symptoms are a grating feeling at the junction of the patella and femur. Sometimes an unstable flap of surface cartilage may cause this pain, and may be curable with simple keyhole surgery and a chondroplasty.
Repetitive knee movements can result in an accumulation of fluid in the bursae resulting in pain and a swelling at the front of the knee .

Read Also: Root Canal Pain After 3 Days

Anterior Knee Pain Causes In Young Athletes:

Before you read this, it is worth repeating the majority of you will not have the issues that I outline below. The majority of you will have pain due to a gait abnormality or muscle imbalance. We all feel the need to have a specific label for why our knee hurts. Anterior knee pain due to muscle imbalance just doesnt cut if for some of you you want something more specific. I understand that.

The point I am trying to make is, if you assign the cause of your pain to a specific structural finding or something that your MRI report mentioned, then you may have difficulty getting past that and buying into the PT or exercise strategies that have been shown to work.

Chondromalacia: Chondromalacia is likely a very early sign of arthritis. It involves the softening of the cartilage under your patella . As the cartilage softens, it is thought that it irritates other tissue in the knee with certain activities. Im not convinced that this is a common cause of anterior knee pain. Chondromalacia is very common, even in people with no pain.

We find chondromalacia in so many people at the time of surgery for other things, such as an ACL tear. And those people rarely have pain in the front of their knee. So it is not entirely clear why some people might have pain due to chondromalacia, and others do not. Surgery is rarely needed.