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Six Ways to Keep Your Thanksgiving Festive and Fit

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Six Ways to Keep Your Thanksgiving Festive and Fit (Portsmouth NH Healthy Holiday Tips)

Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays here on the Seacoast. I love the food, the sweets, family time, the Macy’s Day Parade, afternoon naps, and football. Traditionally, Thanksgiving means slowing down and indulging—but more and more people in Portsmouth, NH and across the Seacoast are looking for ways to stay active and feel good throughout the holiday.

And the benefits are real: improved digestion, better energy, happier joints (hips, knees, back, neck, shoulders), and a healthier balance to the extra calories you may enjoy.

If you want a festive and more active Thanksgiving this year, here are six simple, healthy Thanksgiving tips to help you stay moving and feeling great.

1. Practice Mindful Eating

You can enjoy every part of your Thanksgiving meal—while still supporting your digestion and energy—with mindful eating.

Mindful eating involves slowing down, savoring each bite, and paying attention to hunger and fullness cues. Studies show this can reduce calorie intake by up to 25%, simply by giving your brain time to register fullness.

It also helps digestion by encouraging thorough chewing and reducing the bloating or discomfort that often comes with holiday meals. Instead of loading your plate immediately, take your time, taste every dish, and enjoy the experience.

2. Interrupt Your Sitting

Even if you don’t feel overly full after practicing mindful eating, long periods of sitting can make your hips, back, and knees stiff—especially on soft couches.

Aim to stand up at least once every 30 minutes. This can be a fun job for a younger family member—let them be responsible for making everyone stand!

Regular movement breaks are one of the easiest ways to keep your spine and joints happy throughout Thanksgiving Day.

3. Sign Up for a Turkey Trot (or Create Your Own)

Turkey Trots are popular across New Hampshire and the Seacoast, and they’re a fun activity for the whole family. Most are 5Ks (3.1 miles), but even creating your own neighborhood walk or jog counts.

A morning walk or run boosts circulation, lubricates your joints, and elevates your metabolism for hours afterward. It’s one of the best ways to balance your Thanksgiving Day indulgence while giving your body a healthy start.

4. Be Active During Commercials

Whether you’re watching the Macy’s Day Parade or football, hours on the couch can wreak havoc on your back and neck.

A simple solution? Do something active during commercial breaks. It doesn’t have to be complicated:

  • Squats

  • Heel raises

  • Planks

  • Back or hip stretches

Turn it into a family challenge if you’ve got competitive relatives—you know who they are.

5. Walk Your Dessert Off

Skipping dessert is optional—but walking afterward is highly recommended. Even a short 10–20 minute walk supports digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, and offsets stiffness from sitting.

Walking is one of the most natural, joint-friendly exercises you can do, and it’s especially beneficial after a big Thanksgiving meal.

6. Stay Hydrated

Hydration matters every day—but especially on Thanksgiving. Drinking water helps with digestion, nutrient absorption, and energy levels.

We often confuse thirst with hunger, so staying hydrated before and during your meal can help you feel more in control of your portions. Hydration also keeps your mind clear and your body energized, making healthier choices easier throughout the day.

Final Thoughts

There you have it—six easy ways to keep your Thanksgiving festive, active, and healthy. If back, hip, knee, neck, or shoulder issues are getting in the way of enjoying the holiday—or even these simple tips—it may be time to talk with a mechanical pain expert.

They can help you find the root cause of what’s bothering you and keep it gone—so by next Thanksgiving, you can enjoy the day fully.

And—it’s the perfect time to take advantage of our Black Friday Sale!
We’re offering our lowest prices of the year on sessions with our Physical Therapy Specialists and our Regenerative Shockwave Therapy.

👉 CLICK HERE to get full access to the Black Friday deals — packages are limited and only available while deals last!

Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapy Specialist and Mechanical Pain Expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media Group. To get in touch—or to request a copy of her free guide “5 Simple and Easy Ways to Get Rid of Back Pain”—CLICK HERE or call 603-380-7902.

5 Reasons to Ditch the Pills and Embrace Exercise as Medicine

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Our bodies are built for movement, yet modern life has us sitting far more than we should.

Compared to our ancestors, we’re moving less and sitting more – sometimes for over half the day. While fitness trackers and smartwatches encourage us to stand and get more steps in, it still doesn’t seem to be enough to counteract the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

Physical inactivity has now become a major health issue, and the consequences are clear: less movement leads to more musculoskeletal issues and chronic pain (among other things). And the unfortunate reality is that most folks turn to pain medication for relief, despite research increasingly pointing to regular exercise being just as effective and far healthier.

Here are 5 reasons to ditch the pills – and embrace exercise instead – as a powerful form of medicine to manage musculoskeletal pain naturally.

1. Exercise Mediates Pain

The way we perceive pain is complex. Many assume it’s a direct response to physical damage or injury – but it’s not that simple. The perception of pain involves numerous physiological and psychological factors that the brain must interpret. Depending on your general health, past experiences, and mental health condition, this can vary quite drastically from person to person. In other words – it’s your brain that decides how much or how little pain you experience.

Because of this complexity, external factors like exercise (and also pain medication) can alter how we perceive these signals. When we exercise, our bodies exhibit an increased tolerance towards pain, and a lower perception of pain intensity. This phenomenon is called “exercise-induced hypoalgesia” – and it works by closing down the gateways that allow pain signals to enter the brain. Certain medications can do this too, but when you exercise, you’re doing it naturally. 

2. Exercise Helps Inflammation

Inflammation is a normal part of your body’s healing process, and it occurs when inflammatory cells travel to a place of injury. However, if inflammatory cells stick around too long, it can result in chronic pain and irritation. This is where exercise can really help. 

When you exercise, your body experiences minor physiological stress, which triggers your body’s natural inflammatory reaction. During the inflammatory process, certain proteins called anti-inflammatory cytokines are produced. These protein chemicals help to modulate the body’s inflammatory response – ultimately reducing the level of inflammation associated with your pain. Inflammation can be both good and bad. When you exercise, you are creating “good” inflammation, which will naturally help to ease your pain.

3. Exercise Stimulates Endorphins

Ever wonder why a quick walk outside or a strenuous gym workout magically makes you feel better? It’s not your imagination. It’s something called endorphins – neurotransmitters released by your brain to alleviate pain and promote pleasure.

Endorphins are considered your body’s natural “opioids” because they interact with the same pain-inhibiting receptors in your brain that drugs like morphine do. But unlike morphine, endorphins are triggered naturally and don’t come with harmful side effects like addiction, drowsiness, or mental fog. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, boosting your mood, reducing stress, and giving you access to your very own stash of natural, healthy painkillers.

4. Exercise Improves your Mental Health 

Exercise and mental health share a powerful connection. It’s virtually impossible to influence one without the other.

Regular exercise stimulates the production of various mood-boosting chemicals, including endorphins (that we just spoke about) along with serotonin and norepinephrine. Aside from helping to control pain, endorphins are also considered a “feel-good hormone”. They trigger feelings of positivity that, once again, are similar to morphine. Serotonin and norepinephrine are instrumental in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety. Therefore – when you exercise – it’s virtually impossible not to feel better. And since we know that pain is controlled by your brain – anything that improves mental health is going to contribute positively to your relationship with pain.

5. Exercise as a Prescription

OK – so we’ve discussed the multitude of positive effects that exercise has on pain perception, inflammation, and mental health. But what if you’re currently suffering from an injury? Is it possible to still use exercise as a pain reliever? The short answer is yes. But it’s challenging to do on your own. You can’t just google “best exercises for back pain” and expect good results.

When it comes to using movement or exercise to rehab an already existing injury – it needs to be carefully prescribed. 

For all the reasons already discussed, physical activity will still help you modulate pain – but you must consider the role exercise is going to have on any potential tissue damage. With weakened or damaged tissue, exercise is still an effective pain reliever, but it has to be prescribed or you risk worsening your injury.

For these reasons, I always recommend working with a movement expert who truly understands the nature of musculoskeletal pain and tissue healing. If you start a general exercise routine because you want to feel better  – I applaud you – just make sure you’re getting your desired result. But if you start exercising to help with pain and don’t experience any noticeable improvement – or you catch yourself modifying to work around your pain – then it’s time to enlist the help of an expert. Otherwise, you risk ending up on pain pills, which is exactly what we want to avoid.

Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Mechanical Pain Expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media Group. To get in touch – or to request a free Discovery Visit to explore a solution for your pain or injury with a mechanical pain expert – CLICK HERE.

Will a Cortisone Shot Help Your Nagging Shoulder Pain?

Are Cortisone Shots the Best Option for Chronic Shoulder Pain?

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Nagging shoulder pain can be extremely annoying.

But when it starts to interfere with things you love to do – you can’t help but wonder – is it time to get a cortisone shot? 

When you’ve got dull, nagging shoulder pain that just won’t go away, cortisone shots suddenly seem very attractive. They’re quick, easy, and seemingly harmless – right? Not so fast. Just because cortisone shots for shoulders are routine, popular, and often effective at getting rid of pain – it doesn’t mean they are the best or right thing to do.

What is a cortisone shot and how does it work?

Cortisone shots are typically administered to reduce localized inflammation inside a joint or tendon. In shoulders, it’s very common to use this procedure to reduce pain from arthritis, bursitis, rotator cuff tendonitis, and even frozen shoulders. When inflammation is confirmed to be the root source of your shoulder problem, and it’s not going away with medication, on its own, or with physical therapy – a cortisone shot may be the right course of action. But what if inflammation is not the root source of your problem? What if inflammation is actually a secondary symptom? This is where most of the confusion lies in the medical community. While it might not seem like a big deal (pain is pain, right?) – you put yourself at risk for irreversible damage to your joints and tendons if you keep getting cortisone shots when you don’t actually need them. 

So how do you know if a cortisone shot is best for your shoulder pain?

Step one is making sure you’ve correctly identified the root source of your shoulder pain. Is it a chemical source – where the inflammatory process to heal something injured within your shoulder has gone haywire? Or is it a mechanical source – meaning the source of your pain is due to poor movement habits and imbalances in your body.  The difference matters – and will determine whether or not a cortisone shot is, indeed, the best option for your chronic shoulder pain.  Let’s look at the differences between the two sources of pain to help you figure out when a cortisone shot is best for your shoulder pain – versus when you should hold off.

“Chemical pain”

Chemical pain is normal (until it isn’t) – and it’s the result of your body’s natural inflammatory response to injury. When your body is trying to heal from an acute injury or tissue damage, a complex chemical reaction occurs between your blood and other cells that involves the releasing of chemicals to “flush out” the injured area and start the healing process. A good example of this is when you fall and sprain something. The sprain causes tissue damage – so your body creates inflammation to heal it. Normally this process has a start and an end. As your pain subsides, so does this chemical process called inflammation. But sometimes this inflammatory process can get out of control for various reasons. And the accumulation of toxic chemicals sticks around (they don’t ever flush out or go away). The result is constant irritation to your nerve endings and surrounding tissues. You’ll experience constant, dull pain (even at rest) that will appear extremely sensitive to any and all movements. There will be no reliability as to what makes your shoulder feel better – or worse. As you’ll read below – the presentation of shoulder pain due to an underlying chemical cause behaves quite differently from shoulder pain due to a mechanical cause. When it’s chemical – a cortisone shot is often necessary – and the best option for your shoulder pain 

“Mechanical pain”

Mechanical pain is responsible for 80% of all shoulder pain. The hallmark sign of mechanical pain is that your pain will come and go based on certain activities, movements, or positions. It’s not constant and throbbing like with chemical pain. You’ll find, for example, that your shoulder pain eases with exercise, movement, and certain positions – while other times it seems to have a mind of its own and will hurt constantly. But typically, you’ll have some sense about things you can do to ease and/or aggravate your shoulder pain. And this is what makes mechanical pain so confusing  – because when you’ve aggravated it – your shoulder will feel inflamed. But the presentation is different from that I’ve just described above, namely, your pain comes and goes. This type of inflammation is a symptom – and not the root cause of your shoulder pain. A cortisone shot may work temporarily to abolish this type of shoulder pain, but it’s going to keep coming back until you address the root mechanical reason that is causing the shoulder inflammation. What you risk here is getting repeated cortisone shots in your shoulder because you think they are working – when they are only serving as bandaids. 

The verdict?

For chemical pain, a cortisone shot is likely the best option for getting rid of your shoulder pain. But for mechanical pain – it’s not. For shoulder pain that is mechanical, you fix it naturally, with specialized and corrective movement strategies. The tricky part here is distinguishing between primary inflammation that’s gone haywire versus secondary inflammation that is responding to activities, overdoing it, or simply the way you move. Don’t try to figure it out yourself – let a mechanical pain expert do that for you.

Are you local to Portsmouth, NH?

Consider speaking to one of my specialists for FREE by clicking HERE.

Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Pilates expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media Group. To get in touch, or reserve a seat in her upcoming free Masterclass for headaches, neck & shoulder pain – email [email protected] or call 603-380-7902

Osteoporosis

5 Ways Pilates can help Manage Osteoporosis

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Osteoporosis is a “silent” disease of the bones that makes them weaker and far more susceptible to breaking.

The Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that approximately 10 million Americans suffer from this disease, and another 44 million have low bone density. Osteoporosis affects one in two women and one in four men. A woman’s risk of breaking a bone when she has osteoporosis is equal to her combined risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer. For men, they are more likely to break a bone than get prostate cancer. Hip fractures are common with osteoporosis, and of the nearly 300,000 folks who fall and break their hips, 25% end up in nursing homes and never get back to their previous function.

If these statistics don’t scare you, they should. But the good news is there are plenty of things you can do – starting right now – to help protect yourself from this condition. When you research osteoporosis, diet and exercise consistently come up as key prevention strategies. When it comes to exercise, you want to make sure it focuses on healthy resistance exercises, mobility, flexibility, and balance. 

Well… there happens to be one exercise system that accomplished all of this. It’s called Pilates.

Here are 5 Ways Pilates can help manage your Osteoporosis:



1. It’s a weight bearing exercise

One of the primary recommendations for preventing and managing osteoporosis is to engage in weight-bearing exercises. Well here’s the amazing thing about Pilates – the entire exercise system is based on bearing your own weight through various movements. Pilates gradually progresses you through postures of lying, kneeling, and standing – on both hands and feet – allowing you to bear weight through multiple planes and postures. This makes Pilates an excellent choice for those wanting to better manage their osteoporosis.


2. It improves muscle strength

You might be wondering… how does improving muscle strength help with bone strength? As your muscles become stronger, they pull harder on your bones, which helps improve the inherent strength of your bone. Plus, stronger muscles provide more support to your skeletal system as a whole, putting you at less risk of a fracture. Pilates in particular focuses on core strength – which is key for providing support to all your other muscles. And when you use the Pilates equipment to enhance your practice, you’ve got the resistance of springs putting special focus on all your tiny muscles, which helps strengthen areas of your body that might be inaccessible via traditional strength training methods.

3. It enhances flexibility and range of motion

It’s quite common for your joints to get stiffer and your flexibility to be impacted when you’ve got osteoporosis. You may think this is inconsequential – but stiffness and immobility can actually create more stress on your bones – which is what we’re trying to avoid. Pilates exercises emphasize the stretching and elongation of muscles, which inherently improves your range of motion. This will not only make you feel better – but makes doing everyday tasks a lot easier and they’ll feel less stressful on your body – which is important when you’re dealing with osteoporosis.


4. It encourages proper alignment and posture

Over time, osteoporosis can lead to unwanted changes in your spine, such as a stooped or kyphotic posture. Not only will these changes make it more difficult and uncomfortable to sit upright and move around, but they can make the bones (vertebrae) in these deformed areas of your spine more susceptible to damage. Pilates can help prevent and reverse these changes. Pilates emphasizes lengthened and proper spinal alignment and helps you to become more aware of your posture during the day. If you want to avoid (or even reverse) a slumped and kyphotic posture – with or without osteoporosis – Pilates can help.

5. It helps improve your balance and stability

Fall prevention is critical for those living with osteoporosis. And one of the best ways to prevent falls is to work on your balance. One might not think of Pilates as playing a key factor in this, however, Pilates is an exercise system that not only focuses on your core, but your feet as well. Everyone knows that a stronger core is going to make your whole body feel more stable. But when you’ve got feet that are more mobile and more in-tune with the ground – it dramatically improves your balance – making Pilates a safe and healthy way to not only improve your balance but decrease your risk of falling.

The best management of osteoporosis requires a multifaceted approach – and factors such as diet, nutrition, and exercise modifications must all be considered. Pilates is just one factor in the mix. But I like it because it hits on so many areas that are critical for the successful management of osteoporosis. If you’ve never tried Pilates before, I’d highly recommend giving it a whirl.

But be sure to get approval from your doctor first, and enlist the help of a movement specialist who understands how to work with someone suffering with osteoporosis.

Local to Portsmouth, NH? Consider speaking with one of my specialists by clicking HERE.

 Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Pilates expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media group. To get in touch, or enroll in her upcoming OsteoCore Strong Bones Program – visit her website www.cjphysicaltherapy.com or call 603-605-0402