For women, the muscle and joint pains of aging could be linked to a loss of estrogen. A few lifestyle changes can make a big difference.
When Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon, was in her early 40s, she regularly competed in half marathons. Then, at 47, she entered perimenopause and suddenly found herself struggling to walk even a short distance, crippled by total body joint and muscle pain. “I was in the best shape of my life,” she said, and then, “I could barely get out of bed.”
In her private practice in Orlando, Fla., she heard similar stories from women going through menopause, including other longtime athletes who now struggled to move comfortably. These patients repeatedly told her, “I feel like I’m falling apart,” she said, despite not having endured any obvious injuries.
While doctors have long known that menopause affects bone health, Dr. Wright and others now believe the transition affects the health of muscles and joints, too. In a paper published in July, Dr. Wright gave this phenomenon a name: the musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause.
The syndrome refers to a constellation of conditions and symptoms that become more prevalent during perimenopause and beyond, including joint pain, frozen shoulder, a loss of muscle mass and bone density, and worsening osteoarthritis, among other things. Research suggests that more than half of menopausal women may experience musculoskeletal symptoms, some of which are severe enough to be debilitating — yet health care providers often dismiss them as unavoidable parts of aging.
What does the syndrome look like?
Dr. Wright described a vicious circle she sees in her female patients: Starting in the menopause transition, women become more sedentary as a result of pain. The less they move, the less they are able to move — and the more frail they become, both in terms of cardiovascular health and in their muscles and bones. This puts them at a greater risk for falls and fractures, and often makes both surgery and recovery more challenging.
Dr. Andrea Singer, the director of women’s primary care at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and the chief medical officer of the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation, has seen a similar pattern among her patients. “We know that there is a significant cross-talk relationship between muscles and bones, and when one has weaker muscles, this increases the risk for falls — and when you fall on weaker bones, that leads to fractures,” she said.