I've had 3 tears surgical worked on but the last one was what pushed me to seriously take up biking. It happened while simply out on a walk along a local path. I've easily ridden close to 20,000 miles since the last unrepaired tear. For me I just have to avoid mashing and need to ride consistently. My knees tend to get sore if I take off too many days. I also stick to the "sweet" spot for my saddle on all my bikes. If I get the fit off I can get pain. I think the biking builds up the legs better and tends to help stabilize your knee joints. Oh, and both my primary care doctor and the surgeon that did my knees are riders. They've had knee surgeries too and recommend cycling strongly as a means to maintain the health of your knees.
The other biggie was totally giving up running, hard to do since I was a runner all my life. I do hike some now but take my time and am really careful on the downhills. I carry a brace on my hikes and if I feel any knee discomfort the brace goes on. So, yeah it is possible to not have surgery and recover. Just don't "fight through the pain" as I used to do. I blew one knee at mile 9 of my final marathon and still finished the race. That was so stupid, I mean really!