Wellness Her Way with Amanda Henry of Therabody
Introducing: Expert Q+A’s
There’s a lot of noise in the health and wellness space—trends come and go, misinformation spreads fast, and sometimes it’s hard to know what (or who) to trust. This has been on my mind heavily as I’ve evolved as a writer and creator dedicated to providing accurate information to health and wellness consumers.
So, going forward, I’ll regularly sit down with experts—scientists, doctors, researchers, and more—to get real, accurate, and solutions-focused answers to the questions that matter. There will be no fluff or fearmongering, just thoughtful, nuanced conversations that help you make informed choices about your health.
First up is Amanda Henry, the vice president of Women’s Wellness at Therabody. The company, probably best known for their Theraguns—a staple in any gym baddies’ routine— launched a new wellness initiative, Therabody, for Her in January. The goal is to improve women’s wellness by focusing on what they call the “Four Ms”—mental well-being, menstruation, motherhood, and menopause. Health and wellness challenges vary depending on one’s stage of life, and Therabody, for Her aims to offer structured product innovation, strategic partnerships, and groundbreaking research to address them.
Some quick data on those gaps:
Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from anxiety and depression.
A recent McKinsey report found that women spend 25 percent more of their lives in poor health than men.
Most women will menstruate for 37.5 years of their lives, and 80 percent of them will have some type of pain or discomfort during their periods.
The U.S. has experienced a concerning rise in maternal mortality rates, in part because of doctors not listening to birthing persons’ concerns about their bodies.
Every day, about 6,000 women in the U.S. reach menopause. Symptoms that happen in and around peri- and post-menopause last anywhere from seven to 14 years. Despite this, many women feel undereducated and unprepared for this phase of life.
Health and wellness isn’t one-size-fits-all, and it’s about time the industry caught up. Below is my conversation with Amanda, edited for length and clarity. We discussed Therabody’s science-backed work, how to get in tune with your body, and how the best thing you can do is be kind to yourself.
Julia: Let’s get started with you telling me a bit about you and your work.
Amanda Henry: I've been at Therabody for just over seven years. I've been here since the very beginning, which is really incredible. I've seen this industry grow and evolve, and I have helped build the story around Therabody from the early days. I was always passionate about women in general. Before Therabody, I had a company that fostered female-run and led businesses. We would connect them with influencers, PR services, funding, or whatever they needed to thrive and grow. That's actually how I was brought into Therabody, which is a fun story. They saw what I was doing with my business. They were just like, ‘Hey, we'd love for you to do this for Theragun’—we were still Theragun at the time.1
That was a really fun period of time. It was a new industry, so we had a real opportunity to shape a new industry, build a narrative around it, build consumer perception, and change consumer behavior about how to really start to prioritize self-care and introduce modalities and tools into your life that could help you do that. My passion for women has never left, and here we are seven years later, dedicating a portion of our business to women's health, which is super exciting.
That’s amazing. Tell me a little bit about Therabody, for Her, which is this new initiative that you're heading up.
Therabody, for Her quite simply is a call to action. We're dedicated to really bridging the gap for women's health. We know that women's health historically has been under-researched and underfunded, and Therabody, for Her is designed to bring education, innovation, and research to the forefront and address her unique needs. The four pillars we're standing on are mental well-being, menstruation, motherhood, and menopause. Those are key areas that are historically not talked about as much as they should, but most women will go through. It's a pivotal point in women's lives, and we really want to do our part to change the narrative and offer solutions.
Traditionally, when I think of Therabody as a consumer, I think about the Theragun and that new cool face mask the company just released. But what inspired the company to expand into research and advocacy? I think that shift is very interesting, as it seems as if health and wellness are more than just delivering a product to the consumer.
On the surface, it might seem like a departure, but if you think about the roots and ethos of Therabody, we've always been rooted in science and education, and we want to help bridge that gap. Women's health research has historically just been underfunded for decades, and leveraging a major gap in understanding how pain modality and recovery impact women differently is something that we felt like we had a lot of expertise in. We have been doing this behind the scenes for years through our research grant program, some of our key partnerships, and our commitment to doing our part; we didn't do a lot of outward-facing communication about it at first because we really wanted to come out with great research.
For example, we wanted to see the effectiveness of our PowerDot device on period pain. We just got the findings in 20142, and we partnered with USC to do trials. And the fact that we have in-house science, research, and innovation teams, we thought that we could leverage all of the incredible things that we're doing to further our incredible wellness, beauty, and performance products. We were like, ‘Hey, let's use all of that power to talk to the other half of the population.’ Again, we saw these glaring gaps that we felt we could fit really nicely into.
How can initiatives like this step in where traditional medical systems have fallen short? I'm preaching to the choir when I say this, but there’s research showing that women’s health concerns are dismissed and disregarded—and that's often what pushes them into wellness and seeking more holistic solutions. That can go a bunch of different ways, and I'm going to ask you about misinformation in a bit, but right now, for this question, how can this fill in that gap for people who need it filled?
That’s so true. To expand the gap further, from 1977 to 1993, the FDA banned women of childbearing age from participating in clinical trials. Women's biology was deemed too complex or too confounding. Think about that: For decades, we have not been in the conversation. So, many of the things that we take and use on our bodies were not tested on women. What we’re creating spawned out of that gap and that need.
If we just go back to Therabody's core mission, our mission is to provide effective natural solutions to take care of your daily wellness needs by combining cutting-edge technology and high-tech modalities. Because I always say longevity is really not a destination. It's your daily wellness practice. We believe that everybody deserves to feel better and live life on their own terms. So, really, we're giving people the autonomy to take ownership of their own health.
Now for the misinformation question: Because we live in a world where anybody can get on the internet and say anything, does Therabody have a plan to combat misinformation?
Absolutely. One of our core pillars is education, science, and research. Therabody has been known to create products that are efficacious and science-backed. We do not put things out without research or studies behind them. It’s a core foundation of Therabody, for Her that was built because of misinformation. So we want people to be able to come to Therabody, know that it's vetted by Therabody, that it's researched by Therabody, and if we are recommending a partner or a solution that is outside of Therabody, they can trust that that is also research-backed. Again, the people that we're aligning ourselves with, the universities that we're doing studies with, the partners that we're bringing on board, we are doing that due diligence for our end consumer.
One of the things that I thought was really dope when I was reading up on this was the effort to partner with reputable research universities. That's a level of thoughtfulness for what's being provided to the consumer that we don't necessarily see in this space.
There are so many times when you're going through whatever stage of life and you're on WhatsApp groups, deep in Reddit threads, or in the group chat. I love our friends, but sometimes they don't have the most accurate information. And sometimes, even the doctors that we go to might not understand what stage of life we're in or what's happening to our bodies. I think that also goes back to really making sure that you're familiar with this vessel called self and making sure that you are taking care of your body as best that you can, but also relying on brands like Therabody to really trust that we're giving you information that is backed by science and efficacious.
Why is it important to know, understand, and be in tune with your body? I was talking to a friend about redoing my morning routine, and I said, ‘I'm trying to get back in my body.’ He asked me what that meant, and I sent a really long text message trying to break it down (laughs).
It's important because we only have one of them. I saw a commercial ages ago, and it was really poignant. It was talking about a car. Think about the first car you got, and if you were told that is the only car you'll ever have for the rest of your life. What gas would you put in it? Where would you drive it? Who would you let in it? What streets would you go down? How often would you get it serviced?
I think about our bodies as the one car we will get for the rest of our lives, and the way we treat it, the way we maintain it, and the way we pay attention to it will really serve our health outcomes—not just now but for our future selves. No one lives in this body outside of us—not our doctors, not our partners, not our friends. I don't know if you've seen the Serena Williams documentary where she was having her baby and she was advocating for herself. Because she knew her body so well, she persisted in getting checked, and they found a blood clot and put her in immediate surgery.
It's really important to be in touch with those signals. That's why I love Therabody's products so much: You use them on your body, so you're able to feel stiffness or pain. I don't know if you've ever used a Theragun, but it really helps to familiarize yourself with your body. I've just become so in tune with when I'm off, when I'm on, when I'm feeling strong, when I feel like I need more recovery, and when my body's not optimal. I'm much more aware.
Absolutely. And I do have a Thera gun, and I love it. It is amazing. I'm a heavy-lifting gym girl, so I need it.
I love you guys. I love a heavy-lifting girl. I love that.
How do you synthesize this information and turn it into routines?
Wellness isn't one-size-fits-all, and women always have unique needs. Pay attention to your needs and the changes in your body. I think women—a lot of the time, we dismiss things that are changing in our bodies. But your body is constantly trying to give you signals. Pay attention. Investing in your personal solutions is another. Thinking about devices that may appeal to you based on your needs. So, if you're struggling with sleep, we have things at Therabody that are incredible for sleep. If you're thinking about recovery, knowing that you lift, think about things that can aid your recovery.
I think we just have to be kinder to ourselves because there's so much jargon, information, and biohacks out there on how to take care of yourself. But real self-compassion is a huge thing, especially for women.
I love that you said that. I feel like my wellness practices and routines didn't really hit until I started being nicer to myself. For example, I would beat myself up if I was tired and needed to sleep in. I would tell myself I was being lazy when I was just tired because I worked hard. So, I really appreciate you saying that.
Yes, yes. Your power-lifting body needs to rest. It needs to rest.
Women who are doing big-brain things, as many of us do, need to take a break.
And be unapologetic about that.
Therabody became the company name in 2020. Previously, it was known as Theragun.
This is a small study, but the findings are supported by others, highlighting the effectiveness of a TENS device for period pain. As with most things regarding women’s health, more robust research is needed.