I have heard physical therapy called pain and torture.  I actually look forward to it.  Ever since breaking my shoulder I have not been able to lift my arm.  I try not to complain but it also really hurts.  Twice a week I come in and lay down while they loosen my muscles up with heat.  Then my therapist manipulates my arm to get my range of motion back millimeter by millimeter.  It used to be excruciating; now it’s a good sort of hurt.  Since my bone has healed she is really able to get in, press it, and stretch it.  It seems as if we all take things for granted until we lose them.  Dutch priest Henri Nouwen once said:

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.”

That is precisely what my therapist has done for me in PT.