Yay.

I had my first physical therapy visit today, as prescribed by the asshole orthopedist. The two experiences were as different as darkness and daylight.

The physical therapist I saw:
(a) has lots of training and experience working with pregnant women.
(b) listened respectfully and intelligently to my description of my symptoms.
(c) examined me carefully and at length.
(d) explained, using an anatomical model, exactly what she thought was happening with my pain and how she intended to treat it.
(e) touched me in ways that made me feel better.
(f) gave me advice very specifically detailed to my situation.

My God, I adore her.

She found two vertebrae that were slightly pulled out of position by muscle tension, and put me through a bizarre but painless set of positions and movements which seems to have corrected the problem. Then she spent a long time massaging the right side of my back and belly, using tiny gentle stretching motions to break up the adhesions which, apparently, are absolutely everywhere if you pay enough attention to feel for them. At times it hurt, but in that "oh God, yeah, that's where the problem is" way that is more of a relief than otherwise.

When I left, she gave me a stack of handouts: posture for back pain in general, common posture problems in pregnancy, and "back pain during pregnancy: self-care and exercises." I'm to go back and see her two or three times a week for the next two months. She also showed me how she moves the skin to ease adhesions, so that I can then show curiousangel and wcg.

"Feel that crackling?" she asked, at one point. "That's adhesions, all through there."
"Then I'm not crazy!" I said.
"Did going to the orthopedist make you feel crazy?" she asked, sounding completely unsurprised. "Because you're not."

I can't wait until Monday, when I get to see her again.