Knee pain from deadlifts

[SplitQuick]

Hey guys. Last week on Tuesday I worked up to 8x340 on deadlifts. That night and the next day I had some niggling pain that I felt like was almost my shin and not my knee. It went away by Friday and was fine until this Tuesday. This Tuesday I worked up to 5x360 and the knee pain started again about 5 minutes after that set. I cautiously did my assistance, 5 sets of 10 with 200 lbs. After about my 2nd set all the pain was gone. (It never hurts DURING a set) Although my knee has always made some crunchy/cracky sounds for years. Usually when bending over to pick something up.

So yesterday and today my knee has been hurting again. It seems to hurt in front of/below my knee cap. And only when my leg is fully straightened. Like when walking when pushing off that foot I get a slight dull pain (randomly). I can bodyweight squat, jump, side-to-side lunge with no pain at all...

I'm very strict on form and my knees don't bug me at all from squats.

Actually the only way I can reproduce the pain is from standing straight up, and hyperextending my leg. Not literally but standing up and flexing my knee/quad and it hurts during that right below my knee cap.

Next week I'm supposed to do >1x380 on deads but I'm secondguessing doing any lower body movement for a week. I haven't taken any days off in months and months and really don't want to start now if it's just something that I can stay off of for a few days and have heal up. I'd much rather take a week off after next week during "deload" and just not do any movements.

I do know that knees and shoulders aren't something to gamble with, and if I need to see a doctor I will.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can offer.

[mchicia1]

Obviously, hard to diagnose over the internet. But since they don't hurt on squats but hurt on deads, I would say you may be biased towards your toes as you start your pull. Try to sit back as much as you can before the pull and push with your glutes. It never hurts to see a doctor though.