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Midlife aches and menopause symptoms: what to take to your GP this World Menopause Day

Your shoulders feel stiff in the morning, your knees grumble on the stairs, and a walk you once did without thinking leaves your hips sore the next day. If you're in your 40s or 50s, it's easy to put it down to "just getting older" and carry on.

This Sunday, 18 October, is World Menopause Day, and the International Menopause Society has chosen "Chronic Pain at Midlife" as its theme for 2026. It's a good prompt to take aches seriously. Here's what's known, what to write down for your GP, and how the Thrive Health Band can help you see your own patterns.

Why World Menopause Day is focusing on pain this year

The International Menopause Society (IMS) founded World Menopause Day in 2009, and it's held on 18 October every year. For 2026, the IMS says chronic pain affects a significant proportion of women during and after the menopause transition, yet it remains underestimated in both research and care.

IMS President Professor Rossella Nappi puts it plainly: "Women's pain has too often been dismissed through gendered stereotypes, and labelled 'emotional' rather than properly investigated and treated."

Pain itself is common. healthdirect describes chronic pain as pain that lasts beyond the expected healing period, and says 1 in 5 people experience it.

Aches and pains are a common menopause symptom

When people talk about menopause symptoms, aches get less airtime than hot flushes. Yet Jean Hailes for Women's Health says you might notice pains, muscle aches and joint aches at menopause, and its perimenopause and menopause symptom checklist lists muscle and joint pains right alongside hot flushes, trouble sleeping, tiredness and mood changes.

Everyone's experience is different. Jean Hailes says 1 in 4 women will have severe menopausal symptoms, 1 in 4 will have none, and 2 in 4 will have symptoms that vary from mild to difficult to manage.

Jean Hailes also makes an important point: menopause could play a role in aches, but other conditions, such as stiff joints (arthralgia) and arthritis, can also happen at this stage of life. So muscle aches at menopause are worth mentioning to your GP, rather than assuming you know the reason.

If sleep and mood are the changes you've noticed most, our article on perimenopause, sleep and mood covers those in detail. This piece is about the aches.

New or worsening joint pain is a reason to see your doctor

Jean Hailes is clear on this: if you have joint pain that is new or getting worse, talk to your doctor. You don't need weeks of notes first.

See a doctor straight away if a joint suddenly becomes painful, swollen, red or hot, if you also have a fever or feel unwell, if you can't put weight on it, or if the pain follows a fall or injury. If a joint suddenly becomes swollen and painful, healthdirect advises going to an emergency department or calling triple zero (000).

For everyday aches, Jean Hailes suggests regular stretches and low-impact activity such as swimming, walking or cycling, eating a healthy diet, staying within a healthy weight range, drinking plenty of water, and using hot and cold packs. It also notes there are medical options to discuss, and decisions about any treatment belong with you and your GP. Thrive doesn't recommend treatments or tell you what to take.

What to take to your GP

Aches can be hard to describe in a short appointment. It can help to bring:

  • Where it aches. One joint, several, or muscles more generally, and whether it moves around.
  • When it started. A rough date is fine, and whether it's been steady, coming and going, or getting worse.
  • Its pattern through the day. Stiff first thing, worse by evening, or after particular activities.
  • What it gets in the way of. Work, exercise, sleep, gardening, lifting, or time with family.
  • What you've tried. And whether anything helped.
  • Other changes. Your periods, hot flushes, sleep, mood and energy.
  • Your medicines and supplements. Including anything over the counter.
  • The Jean Hailes checklist. It's designed to be ticked and taken to your next appointment.
  • Two or three questions. For example: "Could this be menopause, or is something else worth checking?" and "What should bring me back sooner?"

Your GP may want to look at other possible causes, and that's normal. Our guide to getting ready for a GP appointment with Ask Thrive has more ideas.

How Thrive can help you notice what's around your harder days

Thrive doesn't measure pain, and it won't tell you why something hurts. It can help you see what else was going on around harder days.

  • Women's Health tracking. The Thrive app includes a Women's Health section in My Health. It's for self-reported tracking and education: set your life stage, log symptoms as they happen (including muscle aches and joint pain), and use Symptom Scales such as MenoScale, which includes a score for physical symptoms such as joint pain, fatigue and sleep. Your symptom trends show how often your logged symptoms appear and how severe they've been. It doesn't diagnose or prescribe.
  • Sleep, stress and activity alongside your symptoms. The Band records your sleep and activity while you wear it, and daily check-ins let you add mood, stress, energy and symptoms. Thrive's correlations engine looks across both and shows what tends to go with your better and harder days. You might notice that aches you've logged tend to follow broken nights, a long week at the desk, or a big weekend in the garden.
  • Your own normal. Thrive learns what's usual for you right across your health, from sleep, heart and activity to mood, food and body composition, so a change stands out against your own history rather than a chart.
  • Ask Thrive to help you prepare. You can ask, in everyday language, "On days I logged aches this month, how did my sleep and activity look the day before?" or "Help me put my questions about joint aches into words for my GP." If you include Women's Health in the chat, Ask Thrive can also draw on your life stage and the symptoms you've logged.

Ask Thrive highlights patterns in your own information, not causes, and it doesn't give medical advice. "Aches tend to follow short nights" is something to mention to your GP, not an explanation.

If you'd like your GP or a physio to see your trends, Thrive Loops lets you share selected information with a participating health professional, trainer or someone you trust. You decide what to share and with whom, and you can change or revoke access at any time. Looking once a week, or before an appointment, is plenty.

Before you buy

You'll need a compatible iPhone or Android phone. Download the Thrive by Optihealth app from the Apple App Store or Google Play; the app stores are only for downloading the app, and you buy the Band and your Plan at thrivehealthband.com.

A$660 for Thrive Health Band with 12 months of the Thrive plan included

Free Australia-wide shipping during the launch offer (usually A$14.99).

After 12 months, the plan is A$240 a year or A$29 a month, with no lock-in.

You're also covered by a 12-month Thrive Care Warranty, and consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law always apply.

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Common questions

When is World Menopause Day 2026?

World Menopause Day is held on 18 October every year. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday, and the International Menopause Society's theme is "Chronic Pain at Midlife".

Are muscle aches a menopause symptom?

They can be. Jean Hailes lists muscle and joint aches among menopause symptoms, but notes that other conditions, such as arthritis, can also start at this stage of life. If joint pain is new or getting worse, talk to your doctor.

Can Thrive tell me what's causing my aches?

No. Thrive doesn't measure pain or diagnose conditions. It helps you see your sleep, stress, activity and logged symptoms side by side, so you can describe your patterns to your GP.

What should I bring to a GP appointment about menopause symptoms?

Where and when it aches, what it gets in the way of, what you've tried, other changes such as sleep and periods, the Jean Hailes symptom checklist, and a few written questions.

Sources

Thrive is intended to support general health, fitness and wellbeing. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. If you're concerned about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.