When you think about growing older, you may focus on maintaining a healthy weight, staying active, or managing conditions like arthritis. But there’s another important piece of the healthy aging puzzle when it comes to movement and joint health: your muscles.
“Muscle strength is essential for mobility and independence as we age,” says Karen Erickson, DC, FACC, an American Chiropractic Association (ACA) member who practices in New York, N.Y. “When strength declines, everyday activities like climbing stairs, getting out of a chair, carrying groceries, or catching yourself after a stumble can become more difficult.” This can lead to limited mobility, making it more challenging to live independently.
Why Muscle Strength Matters for Joint Health
Muscles and joints work together to help you move. Muscles provide support and help control how your body moves, while joints allow your body to bend, rotate, and bear weight. As muscle strength declines, you may have a harder time moving efficiently or maintaining your balance. This can affect your ability to stay active, which can create a cycle of less movement and further loss of strength.
“Strength gives us physical reserve — the capacity to handle illness, injury, and the everyday demands of life,” says Dr. Erickson. This reserve may also contribute to healthier aging. Several measures of health improve with greater muscle strength, she adds, including mobility, bone density, cardiovascular and metabolic health, cognitive function, and risk of disability.
That’s one reason finding ways to protect or improve your muscle mass and strength can be an important part of a healthy lifestyle. “Careful strength training is just as important as cardiovascular exercise, not only for lifespan, but health span,” Dr. Erickson says.
When Do We Start Losing Muscle?
Muscle loss can begin earlier than many people realize. Adults can begin losing approximately 3% to 5% of their muscle mass every 10 years starting around age 30, according to the National Institutes of Health. The rate can increase with age, says Dr. Erickson.
Age-related loss of muscle mass and strength is known as sarcopenia. Significant muscle loss can contribute to frailty, which is associated with loss of independence and an increased risk of death. People often think that it’s a normal part of aging, but it’s not. Frailty is a sign that your physical reserve has declined, which can make it more difficult for the body to recover from stressors like illness or injury.
“The important message is that muscle loss is not inevitable or completely out of our control,” says Dr. Erickson, and it’s never too late to protect or improve your strength. You can do strength training at home or join a gym, perhaps working with a personal trainer who can show you how to perform exercises safely. Good nutrition matters, too. A 2025 review found that adequate protein and amino acid intake may help mitigate sarcopenia and support muscle health.
Why Women Need to Pay Attention to Muscle Health
“Both men and women lose muscle as they age,” says Dr. Erickson, “but women experience more muscle loss during and after menopause.” A 2024 review indicates that more than 70% of women will experience musculoskeletal symptoms, and one in four will be disabled by them during the transition from pre- to post-menopause. This may be related to estrogen’s role in muscle and bone health.
As levels of this hormone decline, maintaining muscle can be more challenging. “This makes maintaining strength, mobility, balance, and regular physical activity especially important during this stage of life,” says Dr. Erickson.
3 Ways to Protect Your Muscle Strength
You don’t have to be an athlete to protect your muscles as you age, says Dr. Erickson. “You simply need to give your body a reason to stay strong.” To do this, she recommends focusing on three areas:
- Strength train regularly. Resistance or weight training can help maintain muscle mass and strength. Aim for 3-5 days each week.
- Eat enough protein. Get 20 to 40 grams of protein per meal, suggests Dr. Erickson, while maintaining good overall nutrition and hydration.
- Keep moving. Walking and cardiovascular exercise are good. So are functional movements that mimic everyday activities, such as getting up from a low chair or getting off the floor. Balance exercises can also help.
What About GLP-1 Medications and Muscle Loss?
For people using GLP-1 medications for weight loss, preserving muscle is an important consideration, says Dr. Erickson. Research shows that significant weight loss can involve the loss of lean body mass, which includes muscle.
Resistance training and adequate protein intake can help support muscle mass, strength, and mobility while working toward weight loss. “The goal is to improve health without sacrificing strength,” Dr. Erickson says. Your healthcare provider can help identify your individual nutritional and exercise needs.
How Can a Chiropractor Help?
As you age, arthritis, joint stiffness, muscle tightness, and changes in mobility can make it harder to exercise and stay active. Chiropractic can be part of a broader approach to maintaining movement and physical function. “Chiropractic care helps people move better and stay active,” says Dr. Erickson.
Chiropractors can evaluate joint restrictions, pain, posture, movement patterns, and mobility limitations. Addressing these issues may make it easier to participate in the activities that help maintain strength.
Chiropractic care can also complement other types of care, including medical treatment, physical therapy, strength training, cardiovascular exercise, stretching, and nutrition support. For women experiencing musculoskeletal changes related to perimenopause or menopause, chiropractors can address the relationship between the joints, muscles, movement, and balance, says Dr. Erickson.
Don’t Wait to Protect Your Physical Reserve
Muscle strength isn’t just about how much weight you can lift. It can affect your ability to move through everyday life, maintain your independence, and have the physical reserve to handle illness, injury, or other stress.
“We don’t want to wait until we are frail to start taking care of our muscles,” Dr. Erickson says. “Start now and do what you safely can on a daily basis.”
Written by Christina DeBusk, a contributor to Hands Down Better.
Reviewed by the ACA Editorial Advisory Board. This information is for educational purposes. It is not a replacement for treatment or consultation with a healthcare professional. If you have specific questions, contact your doctor of chiropractic. To find an ACA chiropractor near you, click here.
