numbness on side of knee

No. I wish this was the answer but the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve courses down the medial side, not laterally. This is not consistent with the symptoms described by doc and others. It's not bursitis either, the bursa are over the patella and lateral to patella, not inferior and lateral to patella. Still trying to find out what the diagnosis is.

That is partially correct, the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve courses from the medial aspect of the lower leg to the lateral aspect just below the patella , where it forms a plexus patellae with branches of the superficial cutaneous femoral nerve, anyway, I could be wrong. I am not a doctor I just play one on TV. Ha , I got this on wikipedia. I wacked this nerve and had the same symptoms,

I have a painful numbness on the sides of both of my knees

I have same problem.. I got a MRI after a wreck I had, doc said it was good.. But still hurting ,my knee swells up Huge. It Burt and now after 6 months it's numb. Anyone got a answer

Amazing. 5 years worth of posts and no one seems to have a definitive answer about this. I started to have this exact same problem before Christmas kneeling down and water my tree. Stinging pain whenever I kneeled on it afterwards and a few weeks later the numbness started. Chiro and stretching are what I am going to try.

Just wanted to give you a quick response. I have posted here about a year or so ago. I HAD the problem... AND I am a chiropractor. I wasn't exactly sure what the problem was... but I kinda knew what it could be... burning pain is a nerve being irritated. It started less than two years ago after my son was born. I started getting on my knees to change his diaper... after maybe three or four months of that, I started feeling the burning on the lateral portion of my knee... slightly inferior to it's center. The burning was very intense any time I knelt down on it... and would burn for a few seconds after as it lingered a little bit. It felt exactly like a rug burn. After about five or six months the burning came on more easily... and it started burning whenever something would slightly graze the lateral portion of my knee (left knee) while adjusting patients. It must have been about the end of the sixth month where the side of my knee went from burning to strong numbing sensation. Yeah, if I gazed or put pressure on the knee it would still burn, but when it wasn't burning it was numb. I decided to have an EMG done on my knee since my insurance would cover it. I don't do EMG's although some chiropractors do. I was told as I arrived to my appointment that the test would likely come out normal as the spot I was describing was too small to show anything of significance. And that's what happened... normal testing. I was told to do whatever I could to avoid putting pressure or irritating the nerve and it would probably go away. It took about three months of being really careful... but they were right. I'm not saying stretching won't help you... but thinking about it, it probably won't... you're more likely to put pressure on the nerve by pulling the tissue the nerve is in. Your best bet is to stop kneeling on it and avoid contact with anything directly to the knee. Mine went away... the burning and the numbness. I just went and grazed my knee a few times with my hand... NOTHING. Good luck...

Excellent post, and I agree, mine went away in about 4 months.

Burning medial pain is probably bursitis as was mentioned above but burning lateral pain with tenderness "under" the kneecap is likely to be weak patellar tracking. Basically your muscles are not strong enough to pull your kneecap straight, so it slides at an angle and grinds bone on bone. It is easily fixed with proper taping and exercises to strengthen the muscles. I work at a physical therapy clinic and we see it all the time. High impact activities and bending cause pain because of the bone to bone contact.

Omg, I have the same thing from skiing last march and went to the dr. and he x-rayed it and said everything looked fine. But xrays just pick up bones not ligaments right? Anyway I finally was able to ski second week in jan. this year and then I fell going iceskating a week later and hurt the same knee again. It is numb but yet I will have pain in it off and on too. It is on the front left of knee from top to bottom. I think we need a specialist.

 recently (no sharp pain) my right knee towards the left section a small area has a numbness feeling, Like when you hit your funny bone, I can still feel it.. But its still numb. No other pains happened... Im getting worried as i read people have had this for 6 months and still have it.. help?

It's been 8 months since I first posted regarding numbness on side of knee. As I mentioned then, the doc said it was caused by a pre-patellar bursa neuroma (see my post on page 3). Anyway, I haven't felt the needle like stabbing sensation, however, the outer side of my knee is still numb! I guess the doc wasn't kidding when he said hit would take some time to heal.

ever find out? This is happening to me right now.

The numbness I'm experiencing is like a dead spot. Can't feel anything. I could stick a needle in the area and not feel it.

If you look at my response above (2013-01-12 from Doc) it might help. I'm a chiropractor and actually had the problem myself. For me, it was simply avoiding pressure or contact to the area that was burning and/or going numb. It took a couple months being careful, but it eventually went away. I know longer have the extreme sensitivity and sometimes numbness that I did have. Mine was caused by kneeling down and changing my son's diaper. So instead I just made my wife change the diaper... it's her job anyway. ; )

Just kidding... I knew that would get a reaction here as most people that post here are women (unless something's falling off, men typically don't care about problems or issues they have with their bodies... I don't know how many times I've had women call up and make appointments for their husbands that refused to call)...

Good luck...

Doc

Thanks, Doc. That's pretty much what I've been doing for the last 8 months. I never felt a burning sensation, just a sharp prick sensation in the front of my knee when I knelt down. Now, the left side is just "dead" - no burning, no sticking, nothing - can't even feel my own fingernails scratching the spot. And, yes, my husband won't see a doctor unless I insist and make the appointment. Sadly, I must admit he thinks chiropractors are witch doctors.