The cellulite and back pain connection during menopause (superficial fascia truth)

You've spent thousands on skincare. You've tried every cream promising to "firm and tighten." You've done countless squats hoping to smooth out that dimpled skin on your thighs. You've been to multiple professionals for your persistent back pain, but nothing seems to provide lasting relief.

Here's what most people don't understand: that cellulite you hate and that nagging back pain you can't shake? They might be more connected than you think.

Both are symptoms of changes happening in a layer beneath your skin that most people have never heard of - your superficial fascia. During menopause, this crucial tissue undergoes changes that affect everything from how your skin looks to how your body moves and feels.

Understanding this connection gives you power to address both issues from their root cause. The question is: do you value yourself enough to do what's actually required?

What's really happening beneath your skin during menopause

Yes, your skin itself is changing - you're losing collagen and elastin, which causes wrinkles and sagging. But it's much more than just a skin problem.

Beneath your skin lies a sophisticated layer called superficial fascia - a thin, fibrous membrane that acts like internal scaffolding for everything above and below it. This layer is rich in collagen, elastic fibers, blood vessels, and nerve endings. It connects your skin to the deeper structures of your body and plays a crucial role in both how you look and how you move.

During your menopausal transition, this superficial fascia undergoes specific changes that create a domino effect throughout your body. Between the ages of 50 to 60, women experience a dramatic shift in collagen production: your body starts breaking down more of the flexible Type III collagen while increasing production of the rigid Type I collagen.

This change doesn't just affect your skin's appearance. It affects the structural integrity of the entire fascial network that supports your posture, movement, and pain perception.

As we loose flexible, elastic collagen cellulite can become more apparent. This is natural, and can be improved on with healthy strategies.

The cellulite-back pain connection you never knew existed

Here's what's fascinating: your superficial fascia doesn't work in isolation. It's part of a continuous network that connects to the deeper fascial layers that support your muscles and spine.

When your superficial fascia becomes compromised - less elastic, more fibrotic, poorly hydrated - it creates tension patterns that can affect the deeper fascial layers. As adipose tissue gets caught between these tightening fiber structures, the increased tension from the fibers creates the dimpled, uneven appearance we recognize as cellulite. This is why that cellulite on your thighs might actually be connected to the chronic tension in your back.

Your superficial fascia creates compartments for fat cells through connecting fibers called retinacula cutis. When this fascial layer loses its elasticity and becomes restricted, it doesn't just create the dimpled appearance you see. It also creates compensatory tension patterns that can travel through your fascial network, showing up as stiffness, pain, and movement restrictions in seemingly unrelated areas.

That persistent lower back pain that no amount of stretching seems to fix? It might not be a "back problem" at all. It could be fascial restrictions that started in your superficial layers and created a cascade of compensation patterns throughout your body.

The stress factor that's aging you faster than time

Here's something most women don't realize: chronic stress directly affects your superficial fascia through a molecule called TGF-beta1. When you're under persistent stress - whether emotional, physical, or chemical - your body releases this substance, which causes your fascial tissue to thicken and become less pliable.

This isn't just affecting your appearance. When your superficial fascia becomes stiff and restricted, it creates mechanical stress that travels through your entire fascial network. Your body compensates, creating new tension patterns that can manifest as pain in your neck, shoulders, hips, or back.

Every stressful event, every night of poor sleep, every inflammatory meal, every unprocessed emotion - they're all contributing to both the changes you're seeing in your skin AND the pain you're feeling in your body.

The neural reality affecting both your appearance and movement

Your neurons - the cells that control everything from your facial expressions to your posture - are also changing during this time. The breakdown of neuronal scaffolding occurs for multiple reasons, with age being a primary factor. This directly impacts your ability to maintain the precise muscular control that once kept your face animated and your body moving with grace.

When your neural communication becomes less efficient, it affects everything: how you hold your face, how you carry your body, how your muscles activate, and how your fascial tissue responds to movement. The result is often a cascade of changes that show up as both cosmetic concerns and movement dysfunction.

Why everything you've tried isn't working

You've done the yoga. You've tried Pilates. You've used expensive serums and seen multiple professionals for your pain. But nothing seems to create lasting change in either your appearance or your discomfort.

Here's the truth: you're treating symptoms in isolation instead of understanding the connections. You're working on your skin without considering your fascia. You're treating your back pain without understanding how it might be connected to restrictions in your superficial layers.

That yoga class? It's not addressing the fascial restrictions that are affecting both your skin's support structure and your movement patterns. Those expensive creams? They can't reach the layer where the structural changes are occurring. That physical therapy for your back? It's missing the superficial fascial restrictions that might be creating the compensatory patterns causing your pain.

Most professionals are working with incomplete information. They're missing the connections between superficial fascia, deep fascial health, and the neural patterns that govern both appearance and movement.

Your foundation

What have you done recently to take care of yourself? If the answer that comes to you is more than 24 hours ago, then you may need to hear this: There's a difference between valuing yourself and your health enough to make lasting changes and just treating symptoms that will continue to show up in your life.

It's not as complicated as social media or the doctors selling top-dollar procedures make it out to be. There are answers - ones that build a foundation many of my clients never knew they'd lost, nor did they think they could ever rebuild.

Here's what I've learned working with women through this transition: it doesn't matter where you're starting from. If you don't have the courage to examine how you've learned to move through life moment to moment without reflection, to understand how you respond or react to things that stress you out, then success won't be found in strategies and checking off boxes.

The women who make successful transformations in how they look and how they feel do something deeper than scalpels and injections. They're willing to look at the foundation - how they regard themselves, how they move through stress, how they've learned to prioritize (or not prioritize) their own wellbeing.

The choice that changes everything

Let's be clear: cellulite is inevitable. We're born with the structural setup for it. You may not like it, and if that's the case, we can absolutely reduce its appearance through targeted lifestyle techniques like proper nutrition and hydration - but it takes hard work. The real outcome isn't just improved appearance - it's feeling better in your body, moving with confidence and ability, and even experiencing greater mental clarity.

This process isn't for everyone. And that's okay. It's for the people who are tired of feeling stuck doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. If you've tried everything else and you're still dealing with the same issues, then at this point, understanding these connections is the only way forward.

The women who create real improvements in both their appearance and their pain don't waste energy on shame or unrealistic comparisons. They understand their fascial system is incredibly responsive when approached correctly. They know that stress patterns directly affect both their tissue quality and their pain experience.

They also understand that there's a difference between accepting what's natural and giving up on what's possible. Cellulite might be inevitable, but its severity, the pain patterns it can contribute to, and how it affects your confidence? Those are absolutely within your influence.

But first, they had to decide they were worth the effort to understand these connections and address them comprehensively.

You're at a crossroads. You can continue treating your skin concerns and pain issues as separate problems. You can keep hoping the next cream or exercise program will finally work. You can accept that "this is just how aging looks and feels."

Or you can choose to understand the fascinating connections between your superficial fascia, your stress response, your neural function, and both your appearance and your pain experience.

Have you watched your mother, grandmother, aunt, or friends accept changes in their skin and increasing pain as inevitable? Did you decide that looking and feeling good was somehow selfish or vain?

I want you to know that expecting your fascia to deteriorate - affecting both how you look and how you feel - is honestly ridiculous. But only if you're willing to understand what's actually required to support your fascial system during this transition.

The Estrogen Project is more than just information; it's a community of women who understand that the dimples they see and the pain they feel are connected. We're committed to helping you work with these fascial changes rather than against them, addressing the root causes that affect both your appearance and your movement.

If you are ready to understand the connections between your skin concerns and your pain patterns, and to understand how your fascial system affects everything from cellulite to chronic discomfort, then I invite you to join our community of women committed to aging with beauty, strength, and confidence.

References

1. Fede, C. Clair, C. Pirri, C. Petrelli, L. Zhao, X. Sun, Y. Macchi, V. Stecco, C. The Human Superficial Fascia: A Narrative Review. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26, 1289.

2. Kehlet SN, Willumsen N, Armbrecht G, Dietzel R, Brix S, Henriksen K, Karsdal MA. Age-related collagen turnover of the interstitial matrix and basement membrane: Implications of age- and sex-dependent remodeling of the extracellular matrix. PLoS ONE 2018;13(3):e0194458.

3. Barsotti N, Chiera M, Lanaro D, Fioranelli M. Impact of stress, immunity, and signals from endocrine and nervous system on fascia. Frontiers in Bioscience, Elite, 2021;13:1-36.

4. Richardson B, Goedert T, Quraishe S, Deinhardt K, Mudher A. How do neurons age? A focused review on the aging of the microtubular cytoskeleton. Neural Regen Res 2024;19(9):1899-1907.