# @mackinprof on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DWHY_X5Ey3R
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/60699479-mackinprof-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/41b09ffa3a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-20T17:58:26.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Stuart Phillips (@mackinprof) — https://gondola.cc/mackinprof

## Caption

Menopause, Aging, and Muscle Loss

Menopause has often been framed as a muscle-loss cliff. Human data do not support that. 

Pre- to post-menopausal comparisons are separated by about a decade, making it hard to disentangle menopause from normal aging. In that decade, you'd expect to lose ~6-10% of your muscle mass.

What may wobble more during menopause is function. O’Bryan et al. reported accelerated declines in several neuromuscular outcomes around the age of menopause onset, with changes in torque and power emerging around the fourth decade. 

But even there, the story is not simple. Body composition, physical activity, protein intake, and sex hormones all clustered with the observed changes, so this is not a clean “it’s just hormones” story. It is more likely that hormones interact with lifestyle, symptoms, and aging.

MSK pain: real and a big deal
Kruse et al. reviewed 37 studies in 93,021 women and showed that muscle or joint pain was reported in 40% of premenopausal women, 57% of perimenopausal women, and 59% of postmenopausal women. We have no idea why this happens! Tag hormone.md.hamilton

Could resistance training help? Very possibly, and it remains the most effective intervention we have for age-related muscle and bone loss. Postmenopausal women can still gain lean or muscle mass with training. But direct evidence that resistance training specifically treats menopause-related MSK pain is still limited, because intervention studies in this space are scarce. So the right answer is probably: yes, lift, but with some humility about what we know and do not know.

Menopause likely does not cause a dramatic acceleration in muscle loss. But it may be a period where function wobbles and pain becomes more common. Those are the outcomes women actually feel, and they matter. MHT may help some symptoms, but it does not appear to directly preserve muscle mass.

Ref: Menzies et al. PMID: 41707658 PMCID: PMC12916153 DOI: 10.1002/jcsm.70232. Kruse et al. DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.OA.25.00254. O’Bryan et al. DOI: 10.1113/JP287496.

#Menopause #Perimenopause #MuscleHealth #MusculoskeletalHealth #ResistanceTraining #WomensHealth #HealthyAgeing #Healthspan

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 566
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 39

## Tags

musculoskeletalhealth, musclehealth, resistancetraining, healthspan, perimenopause, menopause, healthyageing, womenshealth

---
Copyright (c) Gondola