Are you in your late 40s & very stiff & achy?

[PeachyRed]

I just want to know how common my experience is? I'm occasionally stiff these days getting up if I've been sitting in one position for a little while. And I have a fair bit of body pain around the lower back/pelvis. It just feels like I'm seizing up. I've no idea about where I am regards Menopause as I've had a hysterectomy years ago but kept my ovaries. If I had to guess, I'd say I have maybe the hormones left from 2/3 tiny periods a year. I don't think I'm totally meno yet. Does anyone else feel they're seizing up & what if anything are you doing about it? I'm considering HRT.

should add that I have hyper mobility and find Pilates and yoga ridiculously easy and therefore wake up like I’ve been run over by a bus after doing either yes to this!

I second the tai chi thing too. I believe there's something called body balance that's a cross between tai chi and Pilates

Sorry MenstruatorExtraordinaire didn't see your post! A colleague swears by it.

Just coming on to add to the recommendations of exercise and maintaining a healthy weight. I'm 47 and I run three times a week and do yoga once a week. I have osteo-arthritis in my lower spine, but know that maintaining my fitness regime minimises the pain. I also have a tendency to joint injuries such as bursitis, for which physio exercises work. It's a cliché, but 'use it or lose it' is absolutely spot on.

I'm 52 and post menopause, I do still get aches and pains but they are nowhere near as bad.

I'm in my late thirties and this is kicking in! I feel so weak and like bits of me are wearing out all of a sudden.

I've just this week accepted that I must lose weight and get active, or I am destined for immobility. That is a scary thought.

I used to be an athlete and have taken being pretty strong for granted, so this is all a bit of a wake up call.

I was getting really bad aches and pains and swelling until I gave up sugar and wheat, lost weight and started gentle jogging (20 mins three or four times a week) and no pains at all now. I think keeping the weight down and moving is really key. I need to get back into pilates though as I'm not doing enough to stretch out my limbs. This thread has inspired me to order some dvds so I can start off again!

May i add im also fit?! I run, marathons and down to 10k and i think this has contributed to my aches. Ive done mountain races and i really struggle with them to the point if saying ‘no more’ to them.

Would yoga help?

No but I do body balance a couple of times a week. I was a bit achey before I started balance classes. I’d try balance or Pilates or yoga before hrt?

Pilates once a week keeps me going. I notice the days after the class I'm more flexible and move more easily then I start to seize up coming up to the next class. The other thing that helped was cutting down on carbs and vegetable oils that cause inflammation.

Yes, except I am only 37. I have terrible pelvic and lower back pain. I have been trying to stretch every day for a few months for half an hour after work but haven't noticed any difference.

This is me. I have to do 15 minutes of stretching exercises for my back each morning in order to function properly.

This was me. My life has been transformed by food supplements/ wheatgrass juice ( live, not powdered), cod liver oil and joint care vitamins and minerals. I feel springy again.

@CS12345 it doesn’t ‘help’ - I over bend or over stretch, I never have any aches or anything in tummy muscles after - my friends sweat and ‘feel good ‘ after Pilates. I feel normal. Like I’ve done nothing. Then I wake feeling like I’ve been run over
I try to hold back but then it seems pointless

Is this a thing? I'm 49 with no menopause and no stiffness, no changes at all yet

Well lucky bugger you.

Yes and I'm perimenopausal. Good to hear it might improve when out the other side. It's mainly when i first get up. The bottoms of me feet feel bruised and a friend said the same. Legs feel stiff. It's ok once I've got going though

58 year old male here. Most of my aches are in my knees and ankles, but having had two broken legs and 4 arthroscopies... My lower back used to ache from my teens onward, but in my late 30s I was prescribed othortic inserts to correct my gait. Back's fine now. Need to lose about 20kg though.

What supplements /brands are you taking vanilla??

Jointace made by Vitabiotics. I get them from Boots. The oil is Norwegian arctic oil and I get the wheatgrass locally.

One small tip a physio said to try is to engage your tummy as much as you can all day; suck it in, Pilates zip up what ever you want to use to describe it. Not 100%, just a gentle support as if you're using your own tummy muscles as a corset. This can help with lower back/ hip stiffness if dove regularly enough. Also pelvic clocks and tilts before bed, in the morning.

huskylover1 I didn't think I had any menopause-related changes tbh until reading threads about perimenopause and going "that could be part of perimenopause? What, it's not just hot flushes and night sweats?"

I don't have any of those, and have always had somewhat irregular periods, so would have put the intermittent aches down to "must have slept wrong, need a decent mattress".

Yes!! more recently its been weird stabbing pains in the back of my hands as well as random stiffness in knuckles - never the same finger two days running! And thats as well as the lower back stiffness and the knees randomly seizing up. I'm hoping its peri menopause and will ease off in a few years

Everything hurts when I wake - yep that's me...running making things worse seemingly! ALthough I had a lovely massage yesterday which gave me 4 whole hours with no pain in the base of my spine!

Try Pilates and find some stretches to do daily, particualry focusing on the hips, pelvis and lower back. Our bodies are suffering from sitting too much and lack of physical activity, we're not built or designed to be sedentary.

I'm mid 40s and tall, and if I don't stretch and exercise regularly, and walk a lot, I end up with a lot of hip/glute pain and stiffness.

Yep it's called arthritis