MIDLIFE INJURIES - BUT IT IS AGE?

Midlife Mayhem – Episode: Midlife Injuries That Seem to Come Out of Nowhere (But Don’t)

 

🔎 Episode Summary

“One day you’re fine… the next day you can’t hook your bra.” Welcome to the midlife mystery of sudden injuries—shoulder pain, hip twinges, numbness, plantar fasciitis, and everything in between. But here’s the truth: these injuries didn’t come out of nowhere.

In this episode, Joanne breaks down the hormonal, postural, and biomechanical shifts that cause midlife bodies to start feeling broken—especially if you’ve been training hard, sitting too long, or ignoring your glutes. You’ll learn the real culprits behind frozen shoulders, glute tears, SI joint pain, stress fractures, and why perfect form + full range of motion + muscle activation is everything.

This is the episode that explains why the aches you’re feeling might be hormonal, preventable, and fixable—if you know what to do.

🧠 What You’ll Learn

• Why estrogen decline = less collagen, more inflammation, slower healing

• The silent creep of “inflammaging” and how it sets the stage for chronic injuries

• Why shoulder pain might actually be bicep tendon overload (and not your rotator cuff)

• The #1 mistake women make when they get injured: avoidance

• Frozen shoulder: how to spot it, what triggers it, and why it’s reversible

• Gluteal tendinopathy: hip pain explained—and how to tell if it’s your glutes, piriformis, bursa, or spine

• The truth about posterior chain imbalances and why glutes don’t fire for most people

• Plantar fasciitis and the calf-glute-foot connection no one talks about

• How poor pelvic placement ruins glute training (with an at-home test!)

• Wrist and thumb pain in women: what walkouts and knuckle push-ups reveal

• Hamstring tendinopathy: that dull ache under your sit bone—how to load it properly

• Runner’s knee, SI joint dysfunction, and why balance and ankle mobility are game changers

• The danger of ignoring stress fractures (especially with low calorie cardio junkies)

• Why impact training is vital in midlife (and doesn’t have to be scary)

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: That mysterious midlife injury 02:30 – Estrogen, inflammation, and tendon resilience 06:10 – Frozen shoulder: signs, triggers, and what not to do 10:50 – Why you must train upper body, even with pain 13:25 – Gluteal tendinopathy, bursitis, piriformis, and lumbar pain 20:05 – Glute strength and why most people do it wrong 23:40 – Stretching injuries? When “good intentions” go bad 26:10 – Plantar fasciitis and glute/calf imbalances 30:30 – Foot position during lunges: the hidden saboteur 33:15 – Ankle mobility and how tight ankles trick your squat 36:45 – SI joint dysfunction: jammed pelvis and hypermobility 40:10 – Strengthen your core with anti-rotation exercises (Pallof press!) 43:00 – Hamstring pain vs. glute: eccentric loading 101 48:20 – Runner’s knee: quad dominance and menopause instability 52:10 – Wrist/thumb pain and what your walkout says about your joints 56:00 – How training glutes incorrectly ruins balance and progress 58:50 – Stress fractures and the cardio/calorie deficit trap 1:01:00 – Plyometrics, mini-jumps, and why bone health needs impact 1:03:20 – Final message: It didn’t come out of nowhere… but you can fix it

💥 Key Takeaways

• Avoiding movement causes more problems than it solves—protecting an injury often leads to more dysfunction.

• Training glutes isn’t enough if your pelvis is misaligned. Test it. Fix it. Then build strength.

• Ladies over 40: Stop assuming pain is just "aging." Know what’s really going on and train smart.

• Wrist pain in walkouts = a red flag. So is using your