Well, I asked this question about 2 months ago and estherofi20 told me the same thing ... and I have to tell you it works.
I was patting my daughter's back for 10 - 45 minutes (I remember how much my back ached!) .. and nowadays I close her curtain, put her CD on, hold her & rub her back for a few minutes, tell her its nap time and put her down. She goes to sleep anywhere between 5 - 10 minutes.
I'm not as diligent at bedtime tho .. only because I'm reading to her and rocking. I end up rocking her to sleep and then putting her in the crib. I'm not too stressed about this because I love looking at her when she's falling asleep at night and I know she knows how to go to sleep on her own (she does it all day for naps).
So, yes .. hang in there. It will happen.