😕 As If Menopause Symptoms Couldn't Get More Confusing...
Let's talk about it.
🎉 Happy Friday, Friends!
I'm thinking a lot about menopause lately. As a trainer focused on women in their forties and onward, it's something I consider whenever I'm working with a client. Not to mention the fact that it's impacting my life, too! But there are some nuances to what we consider "symptoms" of menopause, and I want to talk about those today.
For example, how many of you have heard of frozen shoulder as a symptom of menopause? This is when your rotator cuff becomes painful and has less mobility. This is commonly attributed to another run-of-the-mill menopause experience, but I think it's more complicated than that.
It’s not that I don’t believe women in their early 50s experience a painful rotator cuff with limited mobility.
It’s when we say it’s only due to menopause. That's what I disagree with.
While it's true that joint inflammation and pain are symptoms of peri- and actual menopause, and that women can experience this pain without acute injury, writing it off as just another symptom minimizes the full experience that leads up to this situation. Ultimately, it's the same devaluing that causes doctors to write off our pain and concerns before menopause, too.
Here's the thing: all the damage that a body takes through childbirth, past injuries, the compounded stress of misogyny, yo-yo dieting, discouragement against strength training, and the tons of other things that impact women in highly specific ways can work together to manifest a person's experience in menopause.
And we haven't even covered the fact that not having consistent, easy access to physical therapy and specialist care for injuries throughout life can further compound the struggle. So there's a healthcare crisis angle beyond just the devaluing of your experience once you get to menopause, too!
The end result of attributing these types of symptoms only to menopause is that we can start to believe they're irreversible or unavoidable. And that's just not true. It is possible to impact how menopause goes by managing stress - physical and mental - throughout life. And that means before and after the big M. Menopause needs to be looked at holistically, and that means considering it a full part of your life, not just a hurdle to get over once.
With you as we look at the big picture,
Dana