One of the most challenging concerns for women moving through menopause or in post-menopause is that their joints and muscles start aching. Has the same happened to you?

Maybe it’s your aching hips, your knees, or even under the soles of your feet. If so, I’m not surprised. Of the 500,000 women who have taken the free MyMT Symptoms Quiz, over 80% report joint pain.

When the same thing happened to me, I was really confused. I was also in a lot of despair because I couldn’t do the exercise that I had enjoyed doing for a number of years. Of real concern, however, was the fact that I wasn’t able to ski with the family. I didn’t want to spend my days sitting in the café and watching them ski without me.

Like many women, I began to become concerned about my reduced levels of activity. I also found my weight going up and my mental health suffering with not being able to do the level of physical activity I was used to.

When nobody had the answers I sought, I decided to look into it as part of my doctoral studies in women’s healthy aging.

The science of menopause-related muscle and joint pain is fascinating. Did you know that our tendons have estrogen receptors on them, which help to keep the tendons flexible?

Our muscles lose size and density as we move through menopause. This is a normal part of aging, but when this happens, it affects the way our tendons and ligaments function.

And collagen turnover is slower as we transition through menopause. This means that if we are doing too much high-impact exercise, our recovery is slower and we build up more inflammation in the joints and muscles.

If we aren’t sleeping well, it’s very difficult to get on top of this inflammation.

For years, I’ve had my head in the lifestyle science to understand how we can turn around joint and muscle pain using natural lifestyle solutions, and these are easier to apply than we think.

For example, one of the things women on the MyMT programs learn is that there is a nutrient found in extra virgin olive oil that replaces the loss of estrogen in our tendons. This is one of the reasons that women having a traditional Mediterranean diet can enjoy greater physical mobility than many Western women.

So please don’t let your joint pain get you down. I know it’s hard when we spend hundreds of dollars on physiotherapy appointments and supplements, but I wonder if anyone has ever talked to you about the importance of sleep to restore your joints overnight? Or perhaps the foods that can replace the role of estrogen and collagen? And how to improve blood flow to get vital nutrients and oxygen into your joints?

If not, then come into the MyMT community with me. You will learn all about the evidence-based lifestyle solutions you need in midlife.

I invite you to start with the free Symptoms Quiz, a tool I created as part of my doctoral studies to help you understand why your symptoms are occurring.

Then listen to the Masterclass on Menopause, the two-part webinar, which is all the information I didn’t have when I needed it.

I also invite you to explore my 12-week online lifestyle change programs for women in menopause and post-menopause. Each one has your step-by-step action plan and food guide to help you restore your joint health alongside reducing other symptoms and/or weight loss.

Or if joint pain is the only symptom bothering you, then I have a standalone module for you, simply called Restore Your Joyful Joints.

We’ve got at least another 30 years of living to do, so don’t let your changing mobility get you down. I want you to be able to stay active as part of your healthy aging.

So come on board with me when you can.