Navigating Recovery from Injury While Tackling Perimenopause Challenges

I had just returned from a lovely week away, and the next morning, as I was getting ready for an appointment, it happened. My back went out—or at least, that is what I would call it. The pain was excruciating, and within an hour or two, I needed to use a walker.

It’s not the first time this has happened. In fact, it’s something I’ve been battling for years, and I’m still trying to find answers. My mental space is hit just as hard, because I keep telling myself this isn’t something I can deal with as a woman who is aging. For a solid two and a half weeks, my body was recovering. There was no exercise, and as a woman in perimenopause, that’s frustrating—because I don’t feel like I can afford not to exercise.

Trying to manage weight in perimenopause just comes with the territory, so a setback like this is difficult. It became a daily battle to accept what my body could and couldn’t do. Even when I thought I was feeling better, things could change the very next moment. I’ve had to progress slowly. I took short walks when I could—nothing over half a mile—and by the end of week three, I was sitting in a chair doing some strength training for my upper body with very light weights.

It’s always a challenge when this happens. Now, when you add perimenopause and aging to the mix, it affects me deeply—especially mentally. My next step will be getting back to my two-mile walks, as long as the weather allows. I’ll use that as my lower-body workout for a little while, before adding weights back into my routine.

Recovering from an injury and dealing with perimenopause is difficult. The big lesson of giving myself grace is at play now, and hopefully I’m learning something—because just like perimenopause, this healing process is also a journey.