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Sounds a lot like what I had in 2002, probably caused by a combination of cycling and walking a lot on a visit to Paris. The difference is that you seem like a bit of an athlete, and 'mind-numbing' pain sounds terrible. You also do a lot of high-impact stuff, which I didn't do (although that walking did for me, added to years of riding ill-fitting bikes).
I've come to some sort of accommodation with it through a combination of understanding related issues (basically a chronic hip problem that refers pain to the knee), better bike fitting, regular yoga and swimming (although I've slacked on the latter as of late). Your diagnosis also sounds like some of the earlier diagnoses I got, which never looked at the wider issues, e.g. how shoulder/back issues relate to it. I'd say it would be a good idea to have that looked at. In my experience, many medical professionals tend to be a bit too focused on the narrow area you present with. I actually got the right advice from a chiropractor (although I felt his actual treatment wasn't up to much).
As for your exercise profile, I don't really know. One would normally expect that it would be good advice to go easy on the high-impact stuff and do a lot of swimming, but you'd better see a sports physio about that. It worked for me and I think is generally recommended, but I'm no doctor. Good luck!
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Oliver Schick
Time to finally post here, was lurking at this topic, but never wanted to admit (not even to myself) that my knee is injured. Basically two years ago, after being away for whole summer, I overused my knees playing tennis on hard court, training martial arts and commuting on fixed gear. I was feeling the pain in both of my knees and was quite ready to ignore it for more than a month under the excuse that my joints just need to get used to the sport activity again after being away for the summer.
Long story cut short, I got inflammation in both of my knees and I could barely walk. The first doctor I went to, gave me a wrong diagnosis and sent me for a one-month therapy (electricity, magnets, physio), which helped my left knee (a two month break and some regular stretching/ strengthening exercises). Unfortunately there was still some pain left in my right knee which I continued to ignore again and started my normal sport routine (bike commuting, martial arts, occasionally football). The pain would be stronger or weaker, would come and go away and usually warm summer days would make it better and easier to endure.
Last winter it got worse again and after I went to an acknowledged sport orthopaedist and had a MRI, I was given a diagnosis of having patellar tendonitis (AKA jumper’s knee). His advice was to continue stretching and to continue the usual sports routine as long as the pain is not significant. Right diagnosis, wrong advice, but it was mostly just what I wanted to hear. Last year I did some googling on the topic which brought a lot of new information, including the benefits of an eccentric exercise protocol, which I then discarded quite easily due to it lasting 3-6 months and suggesting to avoid any kind of sport activity for the same time (this part I was most offended by). I continued stretching and improving knee stability which did help some but not enough. Now with the cold weather returning and with some hard training behind me the pain is quite mind numbing so I will try to get rid of my patellar tendonitis once and for all. I am posting this to try to motivate myself to keep up with the daily eccentric exercise routine and also to be able to check up and update on my potential progress!
It would also be nice to hear if any of you managed to get rid of the same problem and how. If there is any interest, I will also post some info on my routine and used supplementation once I see some progress.