Cathe and others -- perimenopause and injuries

Hi Cathe, so sorry to hear of your injury! This is my first post; I've been lurking alot and have learned much and have a great deal of respect for you and the people who participate in the forums. However, I'm not new to your workouts and enjoy them very much. Thanks for the excellent quality workouts and productions! You have plenty of other workouts for me to use, so please don't sweat the delay in the production of these too much.

Your recent injuries have reminded me of some musculature problems I've been having the last few months -- it may have nothing to do your current injuries but I thought I'd post a question.

I'm 49 years old and have been working out since my early 20's and have suffered the usual plantar fascitis & achillis tendonitis and some other "itis's" through the years. However, last November I woke up early one morning and did something to my knee as I got out of bed. I have no idea what I did as I don't recall twisting or wrenching the knee but I felt terrible pain and pulling sensation and could barely get socks/shoes on or walk down the stairs. The intense pain required a visit to the Dr's and I got the usual pain medication and stipulation to RICE and was given an RX for physical therapy. As the first day worn on I could feel the strange pulling sensation start to ease up and the pain lessened. Recovery took about a week before I could get back into the swing of things with low impact workouts (I didn't follow thru on the PT). Then a colleague (about the same age) was talking how she noticed she suffered strange muscle pulls and injuries the week before her menstrual period and that her doctor told her this was a fairly common phenomenon for perimenopausal women. I immediately checked my calendar and realized my injury was the week before my period also. Then in February I suffered a stange pulling sensation in my back, below the scapula, again requiring medication and the usual rest and ice treatment, and AGAIN, it occurred just before my period.

I'm not trying to get too personal, but I'm wondering if any other perimenopausal woman has noticed this tendancy to suffer an injury (weird or not so weird)the week before their period? I find this strange and will discuss it with my own doctor at my next visit, but was wondering about people's experience? Thanks for your input.
 
Debbie...

This is so freaky! I am 51 and peri-menopausal. I noticed a pattern of being more sore from workouts the week before. I was wondering if it was part of the wierd hormone stuff going on!

Fortunately, I have not injured myself but DOMS and just an overall soreness have been experienced :)

HTH
 
I am 45 and have been noticing some strange muscle strains and such. I will keep track next time I get one and see where I am in relation to my cycle. Very interesting topic!
 
Very interesting. I'm about a week away from my period right now and developed this pain in the right side of my back yesterday. Thus far, Motrin, Naproxen and transcendetal meditation have not worked. I wanted to work out and now all I can do is sit like a slug in a chair because I'm in pain.
Anyway, I noticed years ago that I become much weaker the final week before my period starts. I have to use lower poundages in dumbells and stick to low-impact cardio until the day after my period starts. Then, everything goes back to normal.

D.
 
The year I turned 50, I ended up with two injuries to my right leg while playing tennis right before I got my period. The second injury involved my iliotibial band and I spent four months in physical therapy and found out I have arthritis in my right hip. My leg has not fully recovered after two years. From what I read, joints can become a problem during perimenopause. My physical therapist said my injury was actually secondary to the arthritis. I found it interesting that the arthritis only led to my injury around my period.
 
It might be more of an age related occurrence! I am 47 and soon to be 48 years old and have had the plantar fascitis, achilles heel and just recently, the sciatica back pain down the side of my right leg (dominant side and involved my iliotibial band). I still have some pain before my period in the lower back, sciatica area. Perhaps there is a connection!

Gee maybe I should determine my workouts around my cycles.
 
>Gee maybe I should determine my workouts around my cycles.

Well, I've been thinking along these lines .... of doing only low impact workouts the week before my period to play it safer. It couldn't hurt and may help prevent some injuries. I've noticed that I've been more careful about placement of my feet in everday activities such as when getting out of the car, to ensure my left foot has sure footing before getting out (I live in a "snow/ice" state). Injuries can take so long to recover from, I'm concerned about preventing them if I can. I sometimes enjoy some higher impact stuff, but my knees cannot take the beating like they used to and with these wierd injuries happening, I'm thinking I'll just make it low impact that whole week before my period. Deb
 
I definitely agree with this. Shortly after turning 40 I have noticed much more strain in my knees and my big toe became arthritic one day and it never went away. A friend I play tennis with recently tore her ACL (she is also in her early 40's) and the Dr. said women are much more susceptible to injury the week before their period and in perimenopause. Which, it turns out is exactly when this happened to her.

Interesting to hear more and more confirmation.
 

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