Rob333 - Ligament(s) could be torn but it is also possible that it is just a severe strain (worse than a sprain) with no tearing. Never go into a non-emergency surgery without a second opinion from the physician of your choice. If you have a GP, ask them who they would send their family members to for an opinion on this. Good luck and God speed on healing. Mary

Hi Donny, I'm going through something very similar. I broke my leg right at the ankle on March 16 so Monday it will be six weeks. I also have been absolutely immobile and I really don't know how long it is going to be. In my case I was taken to the local hospital where they botched the operation so I went to the Yale medical practice and had the head of orthopaedic surgery of the Yale Medical School try to fix it. I had a raging bone infection and nearly lost the lower leg and might very well have if I had not been proactive on my own behalf. The surgeon at Yale said he was appalled at what had been done to me. The hardest part is not being able to do anything and in my case not being able to take care of my totally disabled wife. She needs 24/7 care and I provided over half of it so now we have had to hire a bunch of people including for all night because she needs to go to the bathroom at least once during the night, something I always helped her with. I have no one to drive me around because our live in nurse doesn't drive and my kids are not available. Thankfully we have one close friend who has helped and my daughter has just come back from California to help. I bought a little scooter to get around outside to supervise the huge amount of work that the property requires this time of year not to mention the rose garden with 280 roses. As soon as I finish this I am going outside as there are workers here today. One thing you learn is how much work you do and how much it would cost if you had to pay people to do it for you. I hope you are getting along. I'm guessing that I am in for at least three months more of this before I can be able to do what I could before. The doctor has told me I should be good as new except for a very weak ankle. Good luck to both of us, Henry

It's late so I'm just going to respond train-of-thought to your questions..... RE your exercises -- that's a lot of the stuff my last PT had me doing -- I think it's general leg strengthening stuff and probably all very good stuff to do, but the exercises the new PT gave me really get the butt and outside of the hips, which is what I need, apparently, to cure the IT band stuff. And it takes so much less time -- if I hustle, I can do everything in 10 minutes. re: pilates being too boring and slow-paced -- the more advanced winsor workouts are much faster-paced with less explaining. See if you can get a hold of the Maximum Burn series - she goes very fast in that one. There's a 20 minute one and a 45 mninute one. I think they're both out of print, but there are usually plenty of used copies on amazon (cheap!) re: your arches -- I think high arches are big contributors to knee pain. I'm sure you already did this, but make sure you have the right shoes -- high arched feet need neutral/cushioned shoes -- any sort of stability or motion control shoe will just screw you up further. I have Nike Zoom Vomero 4's -- they are the cushiest shoes ever but they don't last long -- my last pair needed replacing after less than 200 miles. You may want to see a different podiatrist for a second opinion on your orthotics -- I've seen a few and each one has a different opinion on what kind orthotics to make me. I have a set of old orthotics from my 20s and sometimes I wear them to run, sometimes I don't. I don't think they make much difference actually. (Part of me thinks podiatry is a hocus-pocus kind of field!.) A good book to read is "Running Injury Free" by Joe Ellis. He is a podiatrist but very knowledgable and I found it fascinating how he took people's weird pains and traced them down to all kinds of crazy causes (one woman had hip pain that he traced to a tiny nail that had penetrated the sole of her running shoe and was very mildly poking her as she ran -- she didn't even realize it was there, but it was throwing off her stride to such an extent that it screwed up her ankle, knee and hip. But anyway, he spends a lot of time talking about how people's arches and foot structure can really cause issues all the way up the leg - it's interesting to read. re: how long I foam roll - I usually foam roll for a few minutes. You are supposed to stay on each painful spot for as long as you can and at least 20-30 seconds. I will roll til I hit all my painful spots (some twice) or until my arms get tired from holding me up (I find that you have to be pretty acrobatic to get yourself in some of these positions, LOL!) If you have painful spots, you need to roll. The first time I did it, my right IT band didn't hurt at all -- not one bit -- when I foam rolled it (and of course, my right knee didn't hurt). My left IT band, on the other hand, was excruciatingly painful the whole way up and down my leg. I rolled for maybe 3-4 minutes total (it hurt so bad I had to stop) and the next morning, I felt so much better. When I rolled again (I was doing it twice a day at first, now just once a day), there were far fewer painful spots, and now I find that if I keep up the rolling regularly, I can roll and not find any painful spots at all (and then I'm done in like 20 seconds!). Basically, if you feel any pain when you roll your IT band, you've found a problem and you just need to park there on the roller and let the roller work the knot out. Seriously -- in just days, with proper rolling, you should be feeling far less pain during the rolling itself and of course, less knee pain during all your activities. re: the fluid in your knee -- the fluid in your knee might never go away but it is probably not causing your pain. I have tons of fluid in both knees (docs think it is from the trauma of the accident) but other than making really loud crackling popping noises all the time (seriously, in my first set of PT, people could hear my knees popping from across the room when I was doing those step-ups and stuff - it was gross!), it never hurt. The pain is caused by the muscles around your knee pulling your kneecap all out of whack. Once you release the tension in your IT band and strengthen the other muscles around the knee to hold your kneecap in place, it won't be getting yanked all over the place and your pain should go away or at least become a lot more managable. Good luck!

Thanks all of you for all your kind thoughts. How I did it, was I was going out front on the lawn to pick up the paper, so that I could look at the ads to take my mom Christmas shopping and I hurry all the time, so I was running and the grass was wet and I slid and my right foot went under me and I came down on it and sat on it. I actully heard it crack, so I just sat there crying because I just knew that it was bad, and everything went in front of me, Christmas shopping (I love the shop) my very busy job (which I am really starting to love) and then just being laid up. Oh well, I am making the best of it. I have company everyday, someone brings me lunch. My mom and dad - 80 and 82 come over every day when my DH is working, my son and his girlfriend stop by. But it is hard to sit around when I have so much to do. Thanks again for all your thoughts.