Who Is Peri?™ | Menopause Related Joint Pain, Strength Loss and Body Shifts

About Who Is Peri?™ | Menopause Related Joint Pain, Strength Loss and Body Shifts

You're not imagining it. The joint pain, stiffness, tendon issues, strength loss, and body composition changes so many women experience before, during, and after menopause may be connected to the hormonal and physiological changes that occur across midlife. Each week, Dr. Diedra Manns, physical therapist, movement science fellow, Pilates educator, and certified menopause health practitioner, unpacks the musculoskeletal side of menopause through her Stability Before Performance™ (SBP™) framework. She looks beyond hormones alone to explore what may be influencing how a woman feels, moves, recovers, and performs, and most importantly, what she can do about it. Expect solo deep dives grounded in research, alongside conversations with healthcare, movement, and wellness professionals, as well as real women leaders navigating MSM firsthand.

Publisher

Dr. Diedra Manns, DPT

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Aug 2026

Latest episode

29 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Oct 2026

   The Move I Was Avoiding Was the One I Needed: Chronic Pain in Midlife

   I walked into a Pilates conference with shoulder and upper back pain and stiffness I'd been living with for months. Three days later, I was doing arm jumps on the reformer, and my mentor asked me to demonstrate them for the entire class. In this episode, I share what happened in between. October is World Menopause Month, and this year's theme is chronic pain in midlife. Half of midlife women are living with chronic pain, and it's underdiagnosed, underrecognized, and undertreated. In this epis...

2. 

   27 Sept 2026

   (Peri) menopause, Pain, and the Invisible Load You May Not Perceive.”

   “I’m not stressed. I’ve been through much more stress than this before.” When a client said that to Dr. Diedra Manns, she believed her. The client was working, making decisions, and caring for her family. She was also living with shoulder, elbow, and low-back pain, interrupted sleep, and perimenopause symptoms that hadn’t stabilized. In this episode of Who Is Peri?, Dr. Diedra explores the demands we may stop noticing because we’ve become so used to meeting them. She explains allostatic load ...

3. 

   12 Sept 2026

   Pickle Jars and Perimenopause

   When opening a pickle jar suddenly takes more effort, is it just a stubborn lid—or something worth noticing? In this episode, Dr. Diedra Manns uses an everyday change in her own grip strength to introduce the emerging Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause, or MSM. She explains how hormones communicate with tissues throughout the body, and why menopause may influence more than reproduction. You’ll also hear how researchers organize MSM around five processes associated with changes in muscles, ...

4. 

   2 Sept 2026

   Perimenopause, Menopause, or Postmenopause: Where Are You—and Why It Matters

   In this episode, Dr. Diedra Manns explains the stages of reproductive aging, from the reproductive years through perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. She explores how menstrual patterns, symptoms, hormone testing, and medical history help provide context for where you may be, even if you use hormonal contraception, have an IUD, have had a hysterectomy, or experienced surgical menopause. You’ll also learn why understanding your reproductive stage may help you ask better questions about...

5. 

   23 Aug 2026

   Who Is Peri?™ And Why are Having this Conversation?

   Episode 1: Who Is Peri? And Why Are We Having This Conversation?The name of this podcast started with a husband, his wife...and a pretty big misunderstanding about someone named Peri. In this debut episode of The Who Is Peri? Podcast, Dr. Diedra Manns explores what the name Peri has come to represent—and introduces the conversation at the center of this show: the Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause (MSM). What happens when changes in your joints, muscles, strength, movement or recovery begi...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings