Training through injury

I'd have to say that the most irritating thing one can ever have to deal with is an injury.  The pain is the only the most minor of issues; the greatest piece of irritation that we receive is the detrimental effects on our training regimen.  My knees have been bothering me for years now, but recently I took the step to finally get an MRI taken to determine what kind of damage has been done.  I've had multiple X-Rays taken, but the doctors have never gone beyond that, and have simply assumed I had patellar tendonitis, or some other such minor injury.  The problem is that during those years I was involved in completely non-impact exercise; swimming, in particular.  How could I have developed patellar tendonitis in the pool?

The years went by and the pain in my knees waxed and waned, and about 3 months ago, it came to a head.  I decided it was about time to get it checked out for real.  MRI done, I find out I have a sprain (a partial tear) in one of the ligaments, and that the only method of fixing this is physical therapy.  Call me stupid, but I'm not about to take time off from training just to go to PT.  So I've been performing all the standard PT exercises on my own to increase the stability and strength of my knees.  At the same time I've been working explosive movements to improve my yori ashi in kumite.

Would it have been smarter to take the time off and work specifically on the PT, and ignore my much loved hard training?  Probably, but karate is what I love to do, and it's my time of peace and catharsis, I wouldn't give that up for anything.  Well, as I write this, I'm still dealing with the knee pain, but it's become less apparent (I think), and seems to be healing (I hope).  They say that karate is an activity that one can pursue for their entire lives, and I'm definitely one to agree.  I've seen many such examples of people that train for years, mostly injury-free, or without any chronic pains; my own Sensei for example.  I'm hoping that the knees are the only thing I will have to contend with.

Anyway, it's time to get back to work.  It's a busy couple of weeks with final exams rolling around, and then a big trip planned for the year end.  Wish me luck!