In the past 2 months my left knee has been experiencing pain. The pain is below the knee cap as seen in the picture attached. Not only is it swollen in this area but it is sore to the touch and if I happen to bump into something in this area its a sharp shooting pain. It goes away until my next leg session. My knee does not hurt during regular back squats or leg extensions. Leg presses and hack squats really hurt the knee. I am hesitant to go to a doctor because i have a feeling they will tell me not to lift anymore and that is not an option. Just wondering if anyone had something similar or had any idea as to why this might be happening/diagnosis so i can develop a strategy to correct this. This a recent problem and have no history of knee pain/injuries and I have been training consistently for 3 years with no knee pain.
Thanks in advance.