Hi. I Am 17 Years Old And A Female I

Hi. I am 17 years old and a female I have been having pain in my left knee for a whole and it seems to me that the pain starts on my knee then shoots up into my lower back. Ot starts out feeling like someone is twisting a knife into my knee then a sharp pain shoots up my leg for maybe 1-2 minutes then the twisting knife pain begins in my lower back. This has been happening on and off for the past week now. What can o do to prevent the pain without having any kind of medication? Or if medication which ones over the counter are safe to take??