Joint Pain in Menopause

Tier 1: Established: peer-reviewed research or government health authority
Publisher: Arthritis Foundation · Published: August 7, 2026 · Accessed: August 7, 2026

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Claims this source supports

• Osteoarthritis is equally prevalent between men and women up to age 50, but after that it becomes more common and more severe in women.
• Estrogen is anti-inflammatory, and its receptors are present throughout the body including muscles, bones, joints, tendons and ligaments; as estrogen levels drop, joints see less of it, and this withdrawal can increase joint pain in the hands, shoulders and knees, really any joint (Jocelyn Wittstein, MD, Duke University).
• Women transitioning into menopause experience accelerated arthritis and joint pain, indicating the importance of hormones.
• Hormone therapy has been shown in studies like the 2022 Women's Health Initiative to prevent bone loss and reduce fractures in postmenopausal women without osteoporosis, but there are no similar studies for osteoarthritis in women transitioning to menopause.
• A reexamination of WHI data on women who continued hormone therapy beyond the trial revealed they tended to experience less pain in their bones and joints; researchers note the questions asked were not well-defined and more specific research is needed.