Why Women Over Forty Need a Holistic Approach to Bone Health – Interview with Annette Cashell

Annette is a Holistic Movement Coach with over 20 years of teaching experience. Ex-corporate and previous "active couch potato," she avoided a neck fusion operation through natural movement and now combines her expertise in Pilates and movement to help women get rid of pain and build bone health with corrective exercises and the environmental changes to support those exercises. She is constantly amazed at the body's ability to heal itself once given the space and guidance to do so. "Exercise is optional, movement is essential."

Annette Cashell, Holistic Movement Coach

Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.

I grew up bilingual in Ireland, with an Irish Catholic dad and a German Lutheran mum. This upbringing gave me a slightly different perspective on the world and, without a doubt, a lifelong case of wanderlust! I’ve lived and worked outside Ireland for more than 12 years in Germany, France, Luxembourg, the UK, and the USA, and I’m endlessly fascinated by how culture shapes the way we move. These days, I’m based full-time in Dublin with my husband and our two cats, and I’m a proud mum to two adult children.

I’m a big fan of monkey bars, house swaps, hiking, learning new things, and Bruce Springsteen lyrics.

What inspired you to transition from a corporate career to becoming a movement coach specializing in women's health?

Yes, I used to have what most people would call a “proper” job, I was an international marketing manager, working in IT in Germany and later in Silicon Valley. I loved the work, but my body definitely didn’t. In my 20s and 30s, the warning signs started showing up, back pain, carpal tunnel, knee issues, all from spending long hours at a desk.

My doctor suggested I try Pilates, which I’d never even heard of at the time, and after my very first class, I was hooked. It was the first kind of exercise I could do without pain in over a year, and it gave me so much hope. Eventually, I left my marketing career to retrain as a Pilates teacher.

Ironically, even though I was exercising way more than the World Health Organization recommends, I still ended up facing the possibility of neck fusion surgery because of chronic pain. Me, the Pilates teacher!? It was confusing and, honestly, terrifying. That’s what pushed me to dig deeper.

Through my research, I discovered that I’d become what’s called an “active couch potato”, someone who exercises regularly (even intensely) but spends the rest of the day mostly sedentary. That realisation completely changed how I looked at movement. I retrained as a Holistic Movement Coach and started focusing on moving more throughout my day, not just during workouts. My body responded amazingly, I avoided the surgery, eliminated the pain, and even reversed bone loss in my hips and spine.

That experience really opened my eyes to how underserved midlife women are when it comes to movement and health. With my training and personal journey, I knew I wanted to help other women feel stronger, more confident, and more at home in their bodies, too.

What are the most common misconceptions women over 40 have about movement and bone health?

The main misconception is that bone loss is something that “just happens” to women as we get older, and that there’s nothing we can do about it except take osteoporosis medication when the time comes. But that couldn’t be further from the truth!

Osteoporosis is often called a “silent” disease because symptoms don’t usually show up until much later in life. In reality, bone loss starts much earlier, often in our mid-30s. The great news is that bone is living tissue, constantly renewing itself just like our skin. Most of our bones are fully remodeled roughly every 10 years.

So it’s never too late to support your bone health, but the best time to start is right now.

How do your programs, such as online classes and corporate wellness webinars, integrate your philosophy of natural movement?

The philosophy of natural movement runs through everything I do. Whether it’s my whole-body approach to bone health, never just spot-treating a problem, or bringing attention to the role of the feet (which are the foundation of all movement and so often overlooked), it’s all connected.

In my classes, programs, and wellness webinars, I don’t just focus on corrective exercises, I also emphasise the lifestyle habits that either support or sabotage them. So many people work hard on their exercises, only to undo the benefits with everyday habits, such as sitting too long, wearing restrictive shoes or clothes, or not managing high stress levels. These might seem like small things, but they have a huge impact on bone health.

I like to think of these lifestyle changes as the low-hanging fruit, simple adjustments that deliver real results and set you up for long-term success. Your bones don’t exist in isolation, everything in your body and lifestyle is interconnected. That’s why a truly holistic approach isn’t just beneficial, it’s essential.

If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?

I wish the industry would take bone health more seriously. More than half of all women over 50 will experience a fracture due to osteoporosis in their lifetime. To put that in perspective, a woman’s lifetime risk of an osteoporotic fracture is about the same as her combined risk of developing breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers!

These fractures are not minor, they can cause severe pain, long-term disability, and even increase the risk of death, with over a 20% mortality rate within 12 months after a hip fracture.

And yet, so much of the fitness and wellness industry still focuses on “toning” classes for women’s health. While these classes may help maintain or slightly build muscle, they do little to improve bone density because they lack the progressive challenge bones need to strengthen.

Bone health isn’t just a “nice to have, it’s foundational. Supporting it properly can dramatically affect not just how well we live, but how long we live.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

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