Both of my knees are bad with my right one being much worse than the left. I've been to three different orthopaedic surgeons over the past year and they've all told me something different. They all agree something's wrong but can't pin point what. I did physical therapy for 6 weeks, that didn't work although the therapist was rather cute. Surgery has been suggested by two of the orthopaedic surgeons and the other one suggested more PT then surgery later on.
I am very sceptical of surgery actually working, especially when they don't know exactly what is wrong. My girlfriend has had 3 knee surgeries in the past 4 years with several PT sessions and she's still in constant pain. Same thing goes for my dad as well, although his knees are much worse. He's due for a knee replacement soon, I just think he's waiting till after him and my mom's vacations that are coming up.
I do have a brace I wear when I want to do something physical and when my knee pops out I have a rather classy cane that I walk with for a few days till I feel like there is enough strength to limp around on my own. I do go to the gym quite a bit too and I'm always trying to work on my muscles surrounding my knee and ever have a personal trainer that helps me, but it's not really made any difference.