Sharp knee pain

Middleaged people and elderly often visit their doctors about the knee pain they have been experiencing. These pains are very frequent in people of that age, but also among much younger populations playing some sport or exercising regularly.

Tear of Ligaments or Cartilage

Injuries and tears of the ligaments are often blamed to be the cause of pain in the knee. If you are suffering from this problem, you won’t be able to kneel or bend the knee without feeling significant amount of pain. Actually, if your ligament is injured, there is no way you can bear any weight on the knee. Additionally, many will hear some creaking sound when there is a problem with one of four ligaments located in the knee. Cartilage tear in the knee is also possible cause of sharp knee pain.

Knee Cap Dislocation

Another possible explanation for the sharp pain felt in the knee is kneecap dislocation. The knee usually swells and the patients can’t straighten the knee without pain nor walk properly.

Arthritis

Different forms of arthritis have been known to cause sharp pain in the knee in some patients. Bacterial or viral infections of the knee, called septic arthritis may provoke redness, swelling and also some knee pain. Other types of this disease can also be blamed for knee pain. Rheumatoid arthritis is no exception and people suffering from this chronic disease may feel intense knee pain as well. Beside this, these patients may experience swelling, stiffness, fever or even deformity of the joints in some cases and their range of motion is very limited due to their condition.

Osteoarthritis and gout are other forms of arthritis that might be associated with sharp knee pain. As many other arthritis patients, these can suffer from swelling, redness of the skin and intense pain localized in the knee.

Tendinitis and Bursitis

Keep in mind that swelling of the tendons (tendinitis) or of the bursae sacks (bursitis) can also be blamed for the painful sensations in the knee. Tendinitis is known to cause problems to runners, cyclists and athletes and they have frequently reported severe pain in the knee caused by this problem. These patients can’t straighten their leg properly because of the pain and swelling and most of them said that any activity which include knee joint worsen the situation. So, they can’t squat, jump or run while the problem persists.

Bursitis also provokes knee pain, accompanied with redness of the skin, swelling around the knee, stiffness and fever in certain patients.