A single ~20-minute physical therapy session I had with a boring normal physical therapist I got referred to by my boring normal Kaiser Permanente doctor. I was having severe chronic all-over-my-torso pain years after a surgery, and it turned out that the source of the problem was that I was being way too cautious about my range of mobility post-surgery.
I was given tips that both immediately worked (in under a minute), and solved the problem long-term, like:
- Take lots of super deep breaths, including while stretching, walking, etc. Consider breathing 'into' the part of the body that's hurting, as a very gentle way to flex / unflex that part of the body and get spasming muscles to calm down.
- Use a stable table or chair back to lift myself up off the ground for a few seconds using my arms ("self traction").
- ~6 stretches, two of which very obviously and immediately worked ('sit in a chair and lean to the left and then to the right', and 'sit back from table pose until my chest's near the floor, while stretching my arms forward').
It's a bit like the best advice I got for e.g. cramps: put lots of weight/pressure on the cramping part of the body immediately, massage it, move it around, etc. Don't "ride it out" or hold maximally still, that's just torturing yourself for zero benefit.