Help me stop hurting!

[Catsarefatflumps]

I’m a nearly 50yr old woman and I am so unfit. I’ve not exercised in about 20 years.

But now I’m sick of always hurting.

My shoulders and neck hurt all the time. My hips and bum hurt if I walk a long time. My knees literally crunch when I walk.

I just want to feel good again and know I need to get fit. But where do I start when I feel so sluggish and achey all the time?

This is what I was going to say too! I had horrendous hip pain. When I turned over in my sleep I would wake up in pain. I started on HRT and all my pain disappeared

Please check out your local Nuffield gym - they do free Joint Care gym sessions. A great way to get started!

The best thing to do is to see your GP to try to find out why you are hurting so much. Crunchy knees and shoulder pains sound like arthritis. You could be sent for investigations and physio which might help. At worst you could perhaps have prescrption painkillers. I have severe arthritis and can sympathise with your pain. I had one shoulder replaced last year (a great success) and waiting for the other and both knees to be replaced. I hope you find some relief.

Honestly I'd go to the GP ask for x-ray to rule out arthritis in your spine, hips.

Joint pain in menopause is really common. I had a chemical menopause due to BC treatment and the pain started almost instantly, I literally felt like I'd been run over by a truck.

If you can get HRT then go for it.

Check with your GP. You made that have an underlying condition.

Build up gradually.

If you are incredibly out of shape, I would recommend something you can do from home. The days of the £250/month Pilates studio are over. For half that kind of money, depending on area of the UK, you could split a weekly private trainer with a friend. Bonus: someone focused just on one or two people will provide a much faster rehabilitation for someone aching and out of shape than trying to find the right time of day, leave your house, travel to a Pilates studio, do the Pilates in a class of how many, have the instructor dividing their attention between X many students, then travel home, etc. There’s a reason most people end up with dust on their gym membership card/keyfob.

While you’re deciding on the best course of action, start chair yoga on YouTube today - no getting down or kneeling, and you can’t really hurt yourself (too easily).

And I think it’s wonderful you want to take control of this. Good on you, OP.

Little and often for exercise but also look at your diet, if you are carrying extra weight that will be putting strain on your joints and no amount of exercise will remove the issue.

The only exercise worth doing is one you enjoy. If you hate swimming/gym work then you aren’t going keep going on days you aren’t particularly motivated.

I find exercising with a friend really helps as you can motivate each other. So grab a friend and find something you both enjoy (start small, waking is a good place to start, but if swimming is your thing a weekly swim or whatever takes your fancy!) and schedule your exercise as you would a dinner date.

Diet wise there is no need to calorie count unless you want to. Try some healthy swaps - make sure each meal has a good amount of veggies, swap puddings for yogurt and fruit, chocolate and cake are a treats for the weekend. Don’t exclude things you enjoy, just make them a weekly treat instead of a daily crutch.

Mist importantly though, see your GP, get an MOT and blood tests to make sure you aren’t deficient in anything. Vitamin D and iron deficiency can both cause aching joints and most UK resident people are deficient in vitamin D. Many women are anaemic.

Many NHS hospitals run joint care sessions for free - just need a referral.

True and worth trying - the value in the Nuffield programme is you get 6 months free gym membership as well to use the gym, pool etc
It was a game-changer for me. 59F with Rheumatoid Arthritis

I was just like you but a bit older and started with yoga, pilates and the gym. I was hopeless to start with as I've never been bendy but have improved massively in the last 18 months. I have recently started seeing a physio who gives me targeted exercises to strengthen my weak areas (everywhere basically!). It has made a huge difference as if you are not moving correctly due to weakness in one area then you won't build strength properly. Perhaps your GP could refer you for physio. HRT also helped with the aching before I started the exercise. I would encourage you to try and find a cheaper gym or classes and go to group classes if you can as they are more fun and motivating and the teacher can make sure you use correct technique. If you can rope in a friend, that helps keep you both motivated to keep it up. It's never too late to start and you will not regret it as you will have a much better old age. Make a start and you won't look back.

I have private healthcare and that includes self referral for physio so I could look into that. Thing is I’ve had physio in the past and not much changes. My knees don’t hurt - they just crunch. And my shoulders are muscular pain. My hips got fucked by childbirth and pelvis never been the same since….

Your hips and pelvis did this issue show up on MRI and x-ray

🤣🤣🤣🤭. Too funny 👏