You have my sympathy. I'm also doing PT, but for achilles tendonitis. All the others who are being treated at the same time seem to have shoulder problems. I'm the only foot/ankle/leg in my time slot. Having done the rotator cuff round several years ago, I could only grimace when I saw your photo of the dreaded "towel" stretch. How I remember the pain when I did that.

The good part is when I did PT for my shoulder I could not raise my arm much above 90o from my body. NOW I have full range of motion, pain free.

I'm hoping for the same result on my achilles. I've been doing my homework and icing it religiously and it is getting better - s l o w l y. At least now I've graduated to being able to ride my bike again.

There was a good article about the whole PT experience in the NY Times a couple weeks ago - this link still seems to work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/he...er=rss&emc=rss

Physical Therapy and the Camaraderie of Healing

I first had physical therapy at 27, after I slipped on an icy Montreal sidewalk and tore the ligaments in my left ankle. I had it again at 42 and 43, after surgery on my right and left knees, and most recently I've had it on both shoulders.

My orthopedist likes to say surgery is half the battle. If so, it's the easy half.

The slow and repetitive work of physical therapy often starts the next day, and for an injury like a tear in an anterior cruciate ligament, it can take up to six months. Before you've done it, it's hard to imagine anything is going to take so long and hurt so much

(go to the link for the rest of the article.)