I have dislocated my left knee cap twice, my right once, and both shoulders. I don't have great knees. I went to 3 doctors, the first said I needed to have surgery, the second wasn't much more positive, and the third said I should have it but to try physical therapy first. I went with the third. The therapy was pretty simple, just some stretching to help strenghthen the platella (sp?) tendon. I'm pretty active in rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, water skiing so I had to cut some of those things out for a while. If I do go out and do any of these things I wear a good knee brace. I also have learned how to reduce a dislocation. My uncle is an emergency room doctor and had to reduce my second dislocation so he taught me and his son how to reduce an elbow, knee cap, finger, shoulder (a dislocation of the knee acutally needs to be done in a hospital). The doc still thinks having surgery is going to be the best idea in the long run as I'm only 24 and I'm not looking forward to it. Just a note, when my left happend for the second time it was to the outside (this is where it will almost always end up) but up the side of my left thigh about 1.5-2". Hurt like nothing else. My uncle got it reduced and braced, but a few days later the ortho told me not to use crutches. He said a study was done and they can acutally heal faster if you keep it mobilized.
Good luck with your outcome.
