November 2026 Newsletter
Five Ways to Manage Arthritis Pain — Without Surgery
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy!
We’re grateful for you.
Main Article
Donna (not her real name) is one of the 53.2 million Americans living with arthritis. Until recently, she was also one of the many arthritis patients who weren’t physically active due to their symptoms. The persistent pain in her knee kept her from hobbies she’d always enjoyed, but now she loves to garden and explore local walking trails with her friends. And she didn’t even have to undergo surgery!
What changed? The answer is simple: Donna visited the team at McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy. We helped her understand her condition, including the fact that prolonged inactivity can contribute to joint stiffness, muscle weakness, and increased difficulty with movement. We also created a customized treatment plan to help her manage her pain, get active, and get back to the life she wanted to live.
Whether you’re living with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or another inflammatory joint condition, we’ll work hard to identify what may be contributing to your symptoms and develop a personalized treatment plan that addresses your needs. All you need to do to get started is call to schedule an appointment.
In the meantime, check out these five suggestions for managing arthritis pain from our physical therapists.
Five Ways to Feel Better
How to Manage Arthritis Symptoms (Without Drugs or Surgery)
- Stay Active: Getting enough exercise is one of the best things you can do to manage your arthritis symptoms. If you have osteoarthritis, this might be a surprise since OA pain often occurs when you move the joint. Fortunately, our physical therapists can help you find low-impact exercises and activities that build strength and improve mobility without unnecessarily aggravating your symptoms.
- But Don’t Forget to Rest While physical activity is crucial in managing arthritis, you need to be careful not to overdo things. Striking a balance between more intense activities (like weightlifting) and periods of active recovery (like walking) will help keep your joints happy.
- Eat a Healthy Diet: Swapping out ultra-processed foods for a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains supports overall health and may help reduce inflammation, particularly in people with inflammatory forms of arthritis.
- Find a Pain Management Strategy: You don’t have to depend on pain medication to manage your symptoms. Self-massage techniques, hot and cold therapy, and gentle stretches can all help reduce pain levels. Our McKenzie-trained therapists can provide suggestions and give you practical self-treatment tools to manage your symptoms independently!
- Get Organized: To maximize your treatment from our physical therapists, keep careful track of your symptoms. When do you feel pain? Where do you feel pain? Do you have any mobility restrictions? How would you describe your pain level? This information will help us identify patterns, guide your individualized treatment plan, and reassess your progress at each visit.
But Don’t Forget to Visit McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy, Either!
At McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy, we believe every symptom has a source. Through careful evaluation and ongoing re-evaluation, we work to identify the factors contributing to your discomfort and address them with targeted care. The evaluation process is very important to ensure there are not underlying joint positional faults causing a mechanical joint issue on top of your existing arthritis. Oftentimes, if these positional faults are corrected, pain is resolved and function restored despite the arthritis. We offer two main benefits: additional pain management techniques and customized, guided exercise programs.
How We Help Manage Pain
In addition to showing you self-management options, we offer several pain management approaches in our clinic.
Manual therapy techniques, such as joint mobilizations or soft tissue manipulation, help reduce pain, promote blood circulation, and improve mobility restrictions. We use hands-on techniques strategically to help prepare your body for exercise.
Depending on your needs, our therapists might also suggest other pain-relieving modalities, such as ultrasound therapy or electrical stimulation.
How We Help You Exercise Smarter
Although low-impact exercise has been proven to reduce the pains of arthritis, targeted exercise and/or specific repeated movements that were found to reduce your pain during the evaluation will also play an important role in addressing pain.
For example, the performance of specific repeated movements will correct the positional faults in the joint, reducing your pain and allowing you to begin to perform mobility and strengthening exercises. The mobility exercises will help to improve your joint’s range of motion, making movement easier. Targeted strength training focuses on improving the strength of the muscles surrounding your impacted joint, which helps support and stabilize it.
We can also help you get started with a general exercise program. If you’ve been inactive for a while, starting slowly and gradually increasing your activity can help your body adapt comfortably. We can provide suggested exercises and durations based on your health history and activity level.
Finally, if your arthritis is in a weight-bearing joint (such as your hip or knee), it’s important that you improve your balance to minimize your fall risk, and we can help with that, too!
Call Us Today
No matter your specific needs, McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy is here to help you manage your arthritis symptoms. From personalized guidance to targeted exercise programs, we’ll find solutions that work for you.
It’s time to take control of your health. Call us to schedule your initial consultation.
Get Started With PT Now!
Return to McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy and Let’s Continue Your Journey to Wellness Together. Schedule Your Appointment Now!
Enjoy This Seasonal Healthy Recipe!
Crispy, Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
For sweet potato fries that actually stay crisp, all you need is your oven and a clever cornstarch trick.
Ingredients
For the Fries:
- Cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons white rice flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 (12 ounces each) sweet potatoes, trimmed, cut in half crosswise, and cut into 1/2-inch thick sticks
Seasoned Salt:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning; for table salt, use half as much by volume
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Fry Sauce (optional):
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 425°F. Spray rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Add oil to prepared sheet and tilt sheet until surface is evenly coated with oil. In a small bowl, combine salt, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, whisk water and cornstarch, making sure no lumps of cornstarch remain on bottom of bowl. Microwave, stirring every 20 seconds, until mixture begins to thicken, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and continue stirring until mixture thickens to a thin yogurt-like consistency. (If necessary, after microwaving, add up to 3 tablespoons additional water to achieve correct consistency.)
- Add rice flour and baking soda to cornstarch mixture and whisk to combine. Add cut sweet potato sticks and toss until each is evenly coated. Transfer fries to prepared baking sheet, arranging them in a single layer with one flat cut side down, and space between each piece. (Some cornstarch mixture will remain in bowl.)
- Bake until bottoms are beginning to brown and fries easily release from pan, about 20 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and, using a thin spatula, loosen the fries and carefully flip taking care not to tear. Rotate pan and return to oven to continue to bake until second sides are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
- For the Fry Sauce: While fries bake, in a small bowl, whisk together mayo, ketchup, sriracha, vinegar, and garlic powder.
- Sprinkle fries with prepared salt mixture and toss fries to distribute seasoning evenly. Transfer fries to paper towel–lined platter and let cool about 5 minutes. Serve fries with prepared sauce, if desired.
Year-End Reminder
Use Your Physical Therapy Benefits Before the Year Ends!
The end of the year is a great time to take care of the aches and pains you’ve been putting off. If you’ve already met your deductible, your physical therapy visits may cost you less now than they will once your plan resets in January. Every plan is different, and our friendly staff is happy to help you understand your benefits.
Before the calendar turns over, keep these points in mind:
- Your deductible may already be met, which could lower your out-of-pocket costs for the rest of the year.
- Unused physical therapy visits don’t roll over into the new year.
- FSA and HSA funds can often be used toward physical therapy, and many FSA plans require you to use your funds by the end of the plan year.
- Getting care now can help you start the new year feeling your best.
For Runners
I Love to Run! Am I Doomed to Osteoarthritis?
For years, conventional wisdom has said that avid runners would go on to develop osteoarthritis in their knees. After all, OA is a degenerative condition that occurs when the cartilage in the knee breaks down–so surely the wear and tear of running would lead to osteoarthritis down the line.
As it turned out, this isn’t actually the case. In fact, running regularly does not appear to increase your risk of developing knee OA and may help protect you against developing OA! Studies show that physical activity, in general, can help protect against osteoarthritis, and the actual risk factor is staying sedentary.
Why is that? Moving your joints keeps the tissue strong and healthy, preventing both inflammation and tissue degeneration. It’s the same reason exercise is one of the best ways to manage osteoarthritis pain.
Make the Most of Your Morning Jog with Physical Therapy
Of course, runners can still develop knee pain, sometimes due to training overload, positional faults, inadequate recovery, or other factors that affect how the body handles running demands. The McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy team can identify and address these issues to reduce your risk of running-related injuries so you can stay active. We can also set you up for success if you want to start running for the first time.
Our comprehensive assessments identify strength deficits, movement limitations, and training factors that may contribute to pain. At McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy, we believe every symptom has a source, which is why we focus on identifying what may be contributing to your pain and developing a personalized treatment plan. For beginners, we can provide advice to ease you into your runs so you can gradually build strength, endurance, and confidence.
Whether you want to start running or keep running, our team is here to help. Call to schedule an appointment today!
Exercise of the Month
SEATED LEG EXTENSION
Sit up straight in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Slowly extend one leg out in front of you until it’s straight, squeezing your thigh muscle. Hold briefly, then lower it back down with control. Alternate legs or complete all reps on one side before switching.
3 Sets, 10 Reps (each leg). (Materials needed: chair)
Tip of the Month
Innovative Approaches to Physical Wellness this Thanksgiving Season
What if staying comfortable this Thanksgiving had less to do with exercises and more to do with thinking like a physical therapist?
At McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy, we believe understanding the source of discomfort is the first step toward finding solutions. Try these three approaches to holiday wellness.
- Be a Holiday Movement Detective: Instead of focusing only on where you feel discomfort, consider what you were doing when it started. Were you sitting on a soft couch watching football for hours or carrying luggage, bending over cooking, or sitting through a long drive? Recognizing patterns can help you make informed choices.
- Discover Your Body’s Domino Effect: Sometimes, discomfort starts somewhere other than where you feel it. For example, limited low back mobility can affect how your hips and knees move. Understanding these connections may reveal clues about your symptoms.
- Look for Clues Beyond Pain: Pain isn’t the only way your body responds to activity. Notice whether daily tasks feel easier, stiffness settles faster, or you can participate longer. These changes offer valuable clues about your progress.
It’s time to take control of your health. If discomfort is keeping you from enjoying life, call McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy today!
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Patient Success Story
Personalized Care.
Powerful Results.
“I would highly recommend McCabe and Brady Physical Therapists. I had a sudden flair up of arthritis in my right hip and it moved around to my lower back. Frank McCabe was my therapist. He designed a program to meet my needs and alleviate my pain. He explained the exercises clearly. He is very knowledgeable and made the process manageable and effective. The facility is clean, organized and easy to schedule appointments.”
Michele F.
Physical Therapy Patient
Refer a Friend
If you’ve experienced the outstanding care at McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy, why not share it with your friends? Referring them means giving them access to personalized treatment that can make a real difference in their health and well-being. Help them find a trusted healthcare partner—refer a friend to McCabe and Brady Physical Therapy today!
