96. Lift Heavy, Then Glide: A Smarter Recovery Plan for Women Over 40 | with Karen Kirkness
Everyday Ayurveda with KateShow Notes
Dr. Karen Kirkness has spent decades in the yoga world and the last ten-plus years in anatomy labs earning a master's in clinical anatomy and a PhD in medical sciences. In this episode she and Kate go straight into fascia — not as packing material, but as a signaling system — and into hyaluronan, the molecule that makes your tissue juicy. The surprise: more lubrication is not better. Fresh, long-chain hyaluronan tells your cells everything is regulated. But movement shears those chains into fragments, and fragments are inflammatory. Clearing them matters as much as making them. That's what a recovery day is actually for. Karen breaks down what changes at perimenopause and after, why losing lean muscle and mitochondria puts the brakes on your body's own hydration, and what to do about it: vigorous training a few times a week, active recovery in between, and 'movement snacks' scattered through the day — the twist, the reach, the sprint to the stop sign. Find Karen at spiralsyllabus.com and on Instagram at SpiralSyllabus or Karen Kirkness. Questions for a follow-up episode? Email [email protected] or leave a comment on your podcast platform. Referenced in this episode Links: https://www.instagram.com/karenkirkness https://www.instagram.com/spiralsyllabus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-7221 Latest paper: The Myofascial Rheostat: H yaluronan Molecular Weight Dynamics and Purinergic Signalling as a Physiological Feedback System https://www.spiralsyllabus.com/ Work with Karen: Experience Spiral Motion Autumn Program KEY REFERENCES Caon, I., Bartolini, B., Moretto, P., Parnigoni, A., Caravà, E., Vitale, D. L., et al. (2020). Sirtuin 1 reduces hyaluronan synthase 2 expression by inhibiting nuclear translocation of NF-kB and expression of the long-noncoding RNA HAS2–AS1. J. Biol. Chem. 295, 3485–3496. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.011982 Caon, I., Parnigoni, A., Viola, M., Karousou, E., Passi, A., and Vigetti, D. (2021). Cell energy metabolism and hyaluronan synthesis. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 69, 35–47. doi: 10.1369/0022155420929772 Kirkness, K. B., and Scarlata, S. (2025). Understanding fascial tissue on the molecular level—how its unique properties enable adaptation or dysfunction. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 27,
doi: 10.3390/ijms27010160
Kirkness, K.B., da Silva, Schleip,R, Cruvinel-Júnior R., and Scarlata, S. (2026). The Myofascial Rheostat: Hyaluronan Molecular Weight Dynamics and Purinergic Signalling as a Physiological Feedback System. Frontiers in Physiology 17 (June 2026). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2026.1854585.
Raghavan, P. (2018). Emerging therapies for spastic movement disorder. Phys. Med. Rehabil. Clin. N. Am. 29, 633–644. doi: 10.1016/j.pmr.2018.04.004 Raghavan, P. (2025). Muscle physiology in spasticity and muscle stiffness. Toxicon 259,
doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108350
Raghavan, P., Lu, Y., Mirchandani, M., and Stecco, A. (2016). Human recombinant hyaluronidase injections for upper limb muscle stiffness in individuals with cerebral injury: A case series. eBioMedicine 9, 306–313. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.05.014 Rauhala, L., Jokela, T., Kärnä, R., Bart, G., Takabe, P., Oikari, S., et al. (2018). Extracellular ATP activates hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) in epidermal keratinocytes via P2Y2, Ca2+ signaling, and MAPK pathways. Biochem. J. 475, 1755–1772. doi: 10.1042/BCJ20180054 Slater, A. M., Barclay, S. J., Granfar, R. M. S., and Pratt, R. L. (2024). Fascia as a regulatory system in health and disease. Front. Neurol. 15. doi: 10.3389/ fneur.2024.1458385 Stecco, C., Pratt, R., Nemetz, L. D., Schleip, R., Stecco, A., and Theise, N. D. (2025). Towards a comprehensive definition of the human fascial system. J. Anat. 246, 1084–
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Stecco, A., Stecco, C., and Raghavan, P. (2014). Peripheral mechanisms contributing to spasticity and implications for treatment. Curr. Phys. Med. Rehabil. Rep. 2, 121–127. doi: 10.1007/s40141-014-0052-3 Stecco, A., Stern, R., Fantoni, I., D
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