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Menopause & Unsteady Walking & Standing

Most women are in their mid 40's to 50's when they go through menopause. Many changes are going on when a woman leaves her reproductive years and enters into menopause and these can affect her health in various ways, including her balance.

  1. Exercise Helps

    • If you do not regularly exercise, you may start to lose your sense of balance as you get older. Exercise helps maintains the sense of balance as well as strengthens your bones so that you won't be as likely to break a bone if you should fall due to unsteadiness. Tinajuanfitness.info explains that exercise keeps our movement reflexes sharp as well as helping us maintain strong muscles.

    Osteoporosis Changes Your Posture

    • As women and men age, our bones begin to lose strength along with our muscles. Bones thin and when this occurs it is called the process of osteopenia, notes Healthinaging.org. If you realize that you have become shorter and that you are beginning to stoop over you probably have osteoporosis, which is porous bone disease. If your posture and center of gravity are changed due to this condition, it is going to affect your mobility and your steadiness while walking.

    Underlying Conditions

    • Some people experience a transient spinning sensation at times, which is dizziness. Other can feel unsteady and lightheaded, which messes up their balance when they are try to get into a standing position or when they are walking. Dizziness can be a sign of any number of underlying medical conditions, according to Menopause-symptoms.femhealth.net, and should be brought to the attention of your physician.

    Balance Disorders

    • Balance disorders can happen to anyone at any age. However, with all of the changes that are going on in a woman's body as she enters into menopause, she may be more likely to suffer from an underlying condition that is causing her to be unsteady on her feet. According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, a balance disorder can come from a problem that originates in an organ called the labyrinth that is located in the inner ear. The labyrinth is integral to our balance or vestibular system. The labyrinth system interacts with our eyes and our bones and joints in order to preserve our body's position. If there is something wrong with the nervous system or the brain, we can develop balance disorders.

    Other Considerations

    • In addition, if you are suffering from arthritis or an eye muscle imbalance, this can cause you to become unsteady. If there are conflicting signals in your brain, this can cause motion sickness. Blood circulation disorders that affect your brain or inner ear can cause unsteadiness as can aging, because our balance system isn't as good as it once was.

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