Patellofemoral pain Syndrome not going away (Read 29 times)

Hello. I have been dealing with PFPS in both knees for a while now. First became an issue back in February. Went to a sports medicine Doctor. He gave me some stretches to do, and that seemed to stop it for a while. It went away for about 2.5 months, then I noticed it again in April. I have been going to physical therapy 2-3 X/week for 14 weeks. I noticed some solid improvement after 6-8 weeks. It seemed like the issue was nearly gone. I went on vacation for 10 days after 8 weeks of PT and had very little issues. was able to run my usual routine of 3 mi several times with no problem. Then, shortly after I got back, it started to bother me again. Had X-rays and MRI, no issues presented other than some possible inflammation. Have been doing virtually no running or exercising, yet the soreness is still there. It's sore in various places around the knee, to include: Just below the kneecap, insides and outsides of knee, and sometimes behind the knee in the back of my legs.

What is the best way to proceed? How do I get over this and back to running/activity? I don't generally run a whole lot as it was ( rarely more than 10mi/wk). I also am young, in my early-20s, no history of knee problems. So I am surprised I got this issue, and that I seemed to go backwards.

Also, is there any chance this pain could be caused by something else? Since my knees are structurally fine, perhaps it is a referred pain from another area? If weak muscles, i.e. quads, hips, etc, were the cause, I would have thought all this PT would have solved the issue by now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You!