Electric-shock like pain in knee

[Laura07]

Hello; for the past few months I have been experiencing a pain in my
knee, it is just to the outside of the patella. It is a very sharp pain, like an electrical shock. It happens totally at random. It can happen when I am walking, sitting, sleeping, etc. When the pain is not occurring, my knee feels
completely normal. When it happens, it usually happens every few
seconds or minutes, then stops for several hours. I am not aware of
any injury or unusual stress to that area. X-ray was normal and doctor's examination was clear. Any ideas?

[jjcase337]

Just to share my experience after a fall to the knee. The sharp pains started for me mostly just as the swelling/bruising seemed to go away. Im thinking it can be a nerve thing that has to do with recovery in my case. Also for therapy, it might sound dumb but I still play my drums and think it actually is good for this type of injury. All the reading I've done so far suggest in most injuries after resting, ice, heat treatment, you should also do some activity with the knee. Accident happened over a week now and haven't stopped walking, brief bike riding, playing music, etc. all to help reduce the pain. Only thing i can add is I've had some unusual pains mostly in leg all this week and also shooting like pains in leg; Which i'm sure will clear up. Thats a knee injury, ,but some people here have described nerve pains originating possibly from the upper nerves of sciatic nerve, my lucky guess, hehe...thanks for sharing!

[ahmadfarjad]

Nerve pain distinguishes itself from regular pain. The most different part is spontaneous.

[ahmadfarjad]

I have been suffering random spontaneous electric shock/stabbing/tearing/flashing pain near knee area for about three month. It started earlier but disappeared for a while. I didn't notice it until it becomes very frequent three month ago...

This changed my life forever. The pain level is near 8-10/10 before I take Lyrica or Oxcarbazepine. Lyrica didn't work well enough but it does help. Oxcarbazepine is the one remove 90% of the pain and I am still taking it.

I have seen more than a dozen doctors, from sports medicine, orthopedics, and neurologist. Orthopedics can't reproduce the pain no matter how they manipulate my knee. Most doctors in Kaiser have no idea about what's going on. You should think twice if you elect to work with Kaiser. They are slow, ignorant and don't care about your pain.

I eventually went to China to get it diagnosed first order. Orthopedic doctor found a vascular malformation near a place I got hit mildly before. The surgery removed this tumor. However, the pain is still happening but at a different location after surgery.

Neurologists told this is very similar to trigeminal neuropathy. Thus they gave me the medication for that pain: Oxcarbazepine. It works and reduces the pain to a level that is negligible. At least I am not suffering for a while.

I am not completely cured yet. I can feel pulses even they are almost painless. I know the pain level will escalate if I stop the medication. I am still looking for a doctor to cure it if it is curable by certain means.

Please read this link about trigeminal neuropathy. If you find it matches all your symptom, you may want to talk to your doctor. The most important thing I see from this website is: there are at least five different causes of the jolting pain, you have to find the correct one yourself.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cranial_nerves/trigeminal_neuralgia/manuscript/types.html

I hope god bless you and you will be good. In most cases, I can see people recover from neuropathy by themselves. Good luck to all of us!

[Buzzzzzzz111]

In my research I also found out that a vitamin b12 deficiency can cause brain and nerve damage which is possibly what's causing the electric shock sensation in my knees. Appearantly none of the doctors I've seen read anything from Harvard. Look it up there's many causes of b12 deficiency. Don't really feel like listing them. Oh, and the doctors I've seen had results of a blood test I took and didn't feel it was important to mention to me my b12 was low. I hope if this doesn't apply to you maybe someone else might be.

[ahmadfarjad]

I am taking Vitamin B supplement.

[KSWS]

This worked for me.  A while back I had a pain in my hip that also radiated to the outside of my knee. The pain lasted for 5-30 seconds and as soon as it was gone all felt normal.  My chiropractor diagnosed it as piriformis syndrome and had me see her staff physical therapist who gave me a set of hip and glute strengthening exercises that I did once or twice a day.  Using the strength exercises combined with stretching, within a week the random pain attacks began to subside. A month into the exercises and the pain was gone.  I continue to do the exercises but not as religiously as before.  I treat occasional flare-ups by stretching the piriformis and using a massager and heat on my glutes. This quick reaction to flare-ups has worked to stop the pain attacks immediately and lasts as long as I keep doing my exercises.  There are a lot of piriformis stretching videos on Youtube but the ones that worked for me were the “glute and hip strengthening” ones. Check out Ask Dr. Jo on Youtube.  Hope this helps!  

[My_left_knee_hurts]

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.m.webmd.com/pain-management/tc/patellofemoral-pain-syndrome-topic-overview&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiZhYn3qbjMAhUKcD4KHYbqAXwQFggQMAA&usg=AFQjCNGopNfK_oFRruqR0d6R3fgsVI-j4g

[Rubyjaye]

I think I might have this, and came to the same conclusion/diagnosis you did. My doctor has me on a nerve blocker called gabapentin. It helps.

[camo78]

Hello,
Are you still on this medication? Do you still have the problem? We’re you ever able to find out what was causing it?
Thanks

[V4L13]

I am 15 and in the middle of class, I would have a sudden shock in my knee. t hurts a lot and then my knee developers a  rash/bruise that hurts a lot. And then my knee and bottom leg becomes slightly paralyzed. Is it dangerous? What do I need to do ?

[ahmadfarjad]

You need to see a good specialist.