Well, the physical therapist did his thing, bending and examining my legs, poking and prodding and measuring. On the complimentary side, he kept commenting approvingly about how flexible my legs were; I guess they’re compensating for my non-bending lower back.
The worse part? Apparently, I have rather flat arches, roll my feet inward sharply (I knew that part) and splay my feet funny while walking as a result, and my calves don’t stretch nearly as much as they should (letting me bend my toes up toward my knee, for example). He gave me orthotic shoe inserts for the arches and the rolling, told me to ice my knee a couple of times a day, and gave me a few stretches for the knee and my calves.
All told, though, I’m feeling optimistic. He thinks that with the inserts helping with alignment and the stretches aiding in fixing tension, we could solve the problem. He doesn’t see obvious signs of meniscus injury or arthritis. I have high hopes! On the other hand, that physical therapy gym is full of things that will fascinate Gabe, and while Eric was able to leave work for a bit to watch the boys last night, there’s no way he’s going to be able to do it for all my appointments. 
Should be interesting…
When I did PT, the first thing she did was look at my feet and I had the same diagnosis. I have new inserts in my shoes and after two months my feet, hip feel better. I still have to do exercises, but I can tell the inserts help.
I have Powerstep, what did you get?
Who are you seeing? I <3 my PT. Oh and my lower back doesn’t bend either, but I am doing some stabilization stuff on the ball this is helping some….
(i’m glad he didn’t see any injury to your meniscus.
good luck. i hope the exercises and stretches help.)
I hope it all works. I’m having ongoing issues with my knee and have arthritis in it now. I wish I’d never had surgery on it.
Carrie, I hate to be pessimistic, but my PT also thought they could “solve the problem.” Wrong.
I don’t imagine ever hearing a PT say, “Sorry, I don’t think I can help you. Go get surgery.” No, they’re going to say, “Yes, we may be able to fix it. If it doesn’t work after 3 weeks of therapy ($$$!), then I may recommend surgery to your orthopedist.” Hopefully, your PT isn’t just milking money out of your insurance company like I think mine did.
C