Hi Penny, I think we do trick our bodies temporarily with massage and most certainly with pain medicine.... I often thought I was "all better" after treatment and tried to do PT and what would happen is I was so goal oriented that I went full tilt on all my exercises during the good times that I exacerbated my tendon and nerve problems further.
One step forward, 5 steps back.

I have been doing acupuncture now at a community clinic (which is more economic than individual session work) and I have seriously improved. My inflammation is down to almost 0% and I have been able to do arm excercises now without consequence

Here is my bigger post taling about my experience with acupuncture:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?t=119303

Hang in there Penny!