Sudden Intense Hip & Knee Pain

Sudden, intense pain is called acute pain. It occurs fast, often after an injury. Acute pain may not subside until the problem is alleviated. It isn’t always severe. However, sudden intense hip and knee pain cannot be dismissed as mildly acute.

Causes

• Acute pain is caused by injury, surgery and anything that cuts, stretches or burns the hip and knee. The intensity subsides after the underlying condition heals or is corrected.

Source

• Acute knee and hip pain is a nociceptive pain. When the cells are damaged by injury or illness, they stimulate the nociceptor nerves, which react by sending a pain signal to the brain.

Illness

• Certain illnesses may cause sudden, intense hip and knee pain. They include bone cancers and cancers of the soft tissues (ligaments, tendons and muscles). Arthritis can create an acute pain in its advanced stages. Cysts that grow in the knee and rupture--as well as thrombosis (blood clot)--also cause sudden and intense pain.

Features

• Acute pain emanates from the point of origin. You will feel it at the exact location of the problem area. It is a sharp, piercing or shooting pain that does not last more than six months. The problem comes in figuring out the pain’s cause.

Function

• Acute pain stops you from performing further injury to the hip or knee. It does so by emanating the piercing pain that stops the movement immediately.