Knee pain but no injury?

I recently have started experiencing pain in both my knees, but as far as I can tell I haven't injured them in any way. Over the past couple of months I've had several bouts where my knees will begin to hurt and feel very stiff, sore, and a little unstable. At first I thought it may have been because I was overdoing it with the stairs at work, or carrying too much weight so I stopped using the stairs and bought a briefcase on wheels to use instead. This didn't help, and I'm still getting painful knees.

Yesterday during the day I was fine, but by the time we got out to run errands after work my knees were really bothering me. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't walk, but walking was not comfortable. I had to go very slowly. The pain feels like it's inside my knee, behind my kneecap. They a little sore to the touch, too. They don't look swollen, but they feel swollen and sore. I spent the evening with an ice pack on my knees but it didn't seem to help.

It seems to come and last for a couple days and then it goes away. I also have problems with upper back and neck pain that I used to see a chiropractor about. He said I had arthritis in my cervical spine. Could this knee problem be arthritis too? For the record, I'm 28 years old and 5' tall, 102 lbs, so I don't think it's age or being overweight. I hate going to the doctor, but my fiance has convinced me I need to get this checked out. Could it be anything else? Should I just go to my general doctor (nurse practitioner, actually) or should I try to go to a specialist?

Thanks,
Bri

[Cindee56]

You are kind of young for osteoarthritis, and it's definitely not your weight.  My knees hurt after exercising, but I have arthritis and I'm overweight.  Do you work out?  It could be simple overuse.  Are any other joints bothering you?  Elbows, shoulders, hands, hips?  It could possibly be rheumatoid arthritis.  

You mentioned arthritis in the spine.  That's sort of common, my son is only 20 and has that already.  I think this is something else.  The only way to tell is to see an orthopedic doctor and get x-rays or an MRI.  I agree with your finance.  You are too young to suffer with this already.

[brianala]

Thanks Cindee56,

I used to go walking a lot, but I haven't been exercising much lately because of my knees (and just being busy in general!) so if anything I'm probably not exercising enough.

I have bursitis and pain in my shoulderblade and the neck/upper back problems related to when I broke my collarbone back in high school, but that's always bothered me so I don't know if it's related to the problems with my knees. I had thought it might be RA too, after doing some research but I wasn't sure if there were anything else it might be.

Thanks for your information!
Bri