Pinkishe Foundation
31/10/2026
Dr. Shehla Jamal
You stood up from the sofa one evening last month and your knees made a noise. A real noise. The kind your father's knees used to make. You sat back down briefly and then stood up again, more carefully this time, and pretended that nothing had happened.
But it has been happening more. Your back is stiff in the morning. Your wrist ached after typing all day. Your shoulder feels like someone tightened a screw inside it overnight. You have not done anything different. You have not started a new exercise routine or slept in a strange position. The body that was perfectly fine three years ago is suddenly speaking up about every small movement.
Many Indian women going through this assume it is just age catching up. Or they blame it on a particular activity. Or they accept it quietly. Almost nobody mentions perimenopause as a possibility.
Often, it is part of the picture. Changing oestrogen levels in perimenopause and menopause can make joints stiff and achy. It is common, it is real, and a lot can be done to help.
Oestrogen does much more than regulate your reproductive system. It also plays a part in keeping your joints healthy. Oestrogen is thought to help control inflammation in joint tissues and support the fluid that cushions your joints. It also helps protect bone.
When oestrogen levels start rising and falling unevenly in perimenopause, and then drop after menopause, this protection weakens. Joints can feel stiffer. Small aches that would have settled quickly five years ago now linger for days.
This is common enough that doctors have a name for it: menopausal arthralgia, which is medical language for the joint pain linked to perimenopause and menopause. It can affect any joint, but it is especially common in the knees, hands, wrists, hips and shoulders.
Many women describe some mix of these.
Stiffness in the morning. The first half hour after waking up is the worst. Joints feel locked. You move slowly. By mid-morning things ease up.
Pain after sitting still for too long. You have been working at your desk for an hour and when you stand up, your knees and hips protest.
Aches that move around. The pain is in your wrist this week, your hip last week, your shoulder the week before. Nothing is consistent enough to point to a specific injury.
Pain that is not severe but is always there. For many women it is not crippling pain. It is a low-grade ache that wears them down over weeks and months.
A general feeling of being older than you are. You watch younger people move freely and feel a quiet envy. You wonder if this is just how things are now.
Joint pain in midlife is brushed aside for a few reasons.
It is put down to age. Doctors and family members alike assume that aches and pains are just what happens as you get older. So the cause is not always looked into.
It is put down to lifestyle. You are told to exercise more. Exercise does help, as you will see below, but the hormonal side is often not explained.
It is put down to weight. Women in midlife are often told that joint pain is because of weight gain, even when the pain is in joints that do not carry weight, like wrists and shoulders.
The hormonal link is not always raised, so it helps to mention it yourself. If you are in your 40s, your joints have started aching and your periods are changing, say so to your doctor.
The good news is that menopausal joint pain often responds well to simple, practical steps.
Movement helps more than rest. This may sound strange, but joints that are kept gently moving usually feel better than joints that are rested too much. Walking, swimming, gentle yoga, or any low-impact activity that takes your joints through their full range of movement makes a real difference.
Strength training is especially useful. Stronger muscles support your joints and take some of the load off them. Two or three sessions a week of light strength training, even using your own body weight, can make your joints more comfortable over a few months.
Eat well for your whole body. Cutting back on sugar, fried snacks, packaged food and maida may help. Fill your plate with dal, rajma and chana, whole grains like ragi and bajra, green leafy vegetables like palak and methi, seasonal fruit like amla and guava, nuts and seeds, and fish if you eat it. Haldi and adrak in your cooking are fine as part of good food.
Drink water steadily through the day. It is easy to forget in hot weather, in the monsoon humidity, or in an air-conditioned office.
Heat helps stiffness. A warm compress, a hot water bottle or a warm bath can ease stiff joints quickly. Check the temperature so you do not burn your skin. Cold can help after a minor strain, but heat is usually better for long-standing stiffness.
Look after your bones too. Get calcium from food first: dahi, paneer, milk, ragi, til and green leafy vegetables. Ask your doctor whether to test your vitamin D, and take a supplement only if the test shows it is low and your doctor advises it. Ask your doctor whether and when you need a bone density scan.
For more severe pain, talk to your doctor. Hormone therapy (HRT) can help some women, especially when joint pain comes with other menopause symptoms. It is not right for everyone, so discuss the benefits and risks with a gynaecologist. Your doctor may suggest painkillers for flare-ups. Do not take them every day without advice, especially if you have acidity, kidney problems or high blood pressure. Ask a doctor or pharmacist which painkiller is right for you. Physiotherapy is very useful for specific joint problems. There are many ways to get help, but you have to ask.
Most menopausal joint pain is uncomfortable but not serious. But other conditions are common in midlife too. Knee osteoarthritis (wear and tear of the joint) is common in Indian women, and an underactive thyroid or low vitamin D can also cause aches. Some women develop autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. These are different from menopausal joint pain and need proper diagnosis and treatment. The signs in the list below are the ones to take to a doctor.
The body in midlife is not a body in decline. It is a body in change. Joint pain in this period can be treated and managed, and for many women it eases with time. For some women, joint pain eases after menopause. For others it continues, and then steady movement and medical care matter even more.
What you do for your joints in your 40s sets the tone for the next several decades. Movement, strength, good food and basic medical care are not vanity or self-indulgence. They are the base of an active, comfortable life into your 60s, 70s and beyond.
Many women in midlife quietly accept joint pain as just part of getting older. You do not have to.
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Prefer to work out your dates now? Open the free ovulation calculatorYes. Joint pain is a recognised symptom of perimenopause and menopause. Lower and changing oestrogen levels reduce the protection oestrogen normally gives your joints. This is sometimes called menopausal arthralgia.
Knees, hands, wrists, hips and shoulders are most often affected. The pain often moves around and changes in strength rather than staying in one joint.
For some women, joint pain eases after menopause. For others it continues. With steady care, including movement, strength training, good food and basic medical support, many women see real improvement.
It may help some women, especially when joint pain comes with other menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and poor sleep. It is not right for everyone. Discuss the benefits and risks with a gynaecologist.
Get calcium from food first: dahi, paneer, milk, ragi, til and green leafy vegetables. For vitamin D, ask your doctor to test your level, and take a supplement only if it is low and your doctor advises it.
A joint that is hot, swollen or red, joint pain with fever, or morning stiffness that lasts more than an hour can point to another condition. See a doctor so it can be checked.
Joint pain in midlife is often linked to changing hormones, not just age. Movement, strength training, good food and basic medical care help many women feel much better. See a doctor if a joint is hot, swollen or red, if pain comes with fever, or if morning stiffness lasts more than an hour.
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