Is my physical therapist torturing me needlessly?

[Bartwoman]

I want to know other people's experience with this.
I have a thoracic strain on one side of my back. It's from a years old injury that keeps getting reinjured. A few months ago I was working with a very nice physical therapist who had me doing exercises and was applying heat. She had told me that my recovery would take months. For the rest of the day after working with her I would be a little sore but then the next day I'd feel much better. I had to stop going to her for a while because I went into surgery for something else.
When I wanted to continue the therapy, I stupidly did something else to aggravate my back, my insurance had dropped her office. I started with a new PT on Monday and have been in agony every day since then. They are doing ultra sound therapy as well as different exercises and are saying I should be fine in a couple weeks. I went in Wednesday and haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights. Is this normal? Am I supposed to feel even more pain during the therapy and then it gets better faster or are they just clueless? I told them about then pain, but they blew it off saying it was part of the process. The other PT was much nicer about not causing even more pain.
Why do the two PT’s say such different things? Should I start looking for a new one because the current one is so indifferent to my pain or is she right that it’s part of the process?

[Astroboy14]

I have no idea, Bartwoman, but I am bumping this in the hopes that you will get an answer...

I am also layed up with a bad back (pulled a muscle [that had been previously pulled] about a week and a half ago... and have been hobbling around since...)

Good luck and sympathies to you!

And welcome to the SDMB! (You'll like it!:D)

[C3]

My husband is a PT and I had him read your post (he doesn't post here himself, so I'm going to tell you what he said).
His thoughts are that the actual treatment (ultrasound, etc.) is probably okay. He said there are many different ways your problem could be treated and that the differences between what the two therapists have done/said aren't the issue. He was more concerned with the fact that your questions and concerns were dismissed by your therapist. It's probably the case that the exercises are correct, however you may have been given the wrong parameters or range of motion to take them through and your therapist should be listening more to your feedback and observing more. If your exercises are stretches, then you should feel a gentle stretch, not pain. If you are using a theraband, you should not be feeling pain either.
My husband suggests reminding your therapist that you had previous successful treatment with heat and the exercises the other PT gave you.
Remember when you go to therapy, you are purchasing a service and if you are unhappy with the product, you should take your business elsewhere.
Just as a quick note, my husband said that thoracic pain is really hard to treat. It generally resolves itself slowly if you avoid much of the exacerbatory things that you do during the day.
(disclaimer: this information is secondhand through my husband. Please talk to your doctor for real, non-internet collected advice.)

[Bartman]

I put this question to a friend of a friend as well. She’s an ER nurse and we weren’t sure if she would know anything about it. This was her answer.
“If your PT is causing you pain during the treatments and not listening to you when you tell them so, you need to see someone else. A little pain is ok during the healing process, but you shouldn't be having so much that you can't sleep at night. Remember, in this day and age of insurance controlled medicine, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so don't be afraid to squawk. Good luck. Have you tried assage therapy? Kind of expensive but really worked for me. “
C3, thank you for asking your husband. Can you ask him a couple other things please? What does the ultrasound do and can I do without it? Also would massage make it heal better or faster, or does it just feel good and not figure into the healing process? This injury is 4 years old. I want to get to the point that I’m not hurting myself all over again.
Your husband is right, I need to make her listen. In the mean time, she’s lost some of my trust and I want other opinions before I go back in. I have spoken to other people in her office and they just backed her up.