Managing Risk & Movement For Menopausal Women

How can menopausal women overcome their fear to exercise?

For people living with long term conditions, the fear of exacerbating symptoms and causing adverse events is a persuasive barrier to physical activity. It can often be a barrier for the health & fitness professional too!

Menopause Movers welcome this British Journal of Sport Medicine research paper which concluded that consistent messaging across the healthcare arena on the subject of risk, would help to reduce fears and improve the confidence of people living with long-term conditions, to be physically active

The results showed:

• The benefits of physical activity for people living with ‘long term conditions’ far outweigh the risks.
• Despite the risks being very low, perceived risk of harm is understandably high. Health and fitness professionals can support physical activity by validating this perceived high risk and work together with the individual to reduce fear, making a real difference!
• Person-centred conversations are essential for addressing perceived risk.
• Everybody has their own starting point.
• People should be encouraged to seek medical attention if they experience a dramatic increase in symptoms following physical activity.

If we need medical clearance for physical activity, why don’t we need it for sitting on the sofa eating pizza? Enjoyable as that is!

Consistent messaging by health and fitness professionals will help to reduce fear around physical activity. there is no routine need for medical clearance unless there are actively changing symptoms! Could we, at times, do more harm by being too safe?

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Join the movement! Share your thoughts, your fears, and concerns about working with people with long term conditions.

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Please do also share your success stories! We’d love to hear all!