SubQ Testosterone Therapy for Women’s Muscle Health Benefits

SubQ Testosterone Therapy for Women’s Muscle Health

Abstract

Testosterone is often called a male hormone, but women naturally produce it throughout their lives. It plays an important role in sexual function and supports muscle, bone, and other body systems. In some women, testosterone levels decline with age, menopause, surgical removal of the ovaries, or other hormonal changes. When testosterone therapy is medically appropriate, minimal doses may be used to keep blood levels within the normal female physiologic range.

Subcutaneous testosterone injections place the medication in the fatty layer just beneath the skin instead of deep in a muscle. This route can make small-dose administration convenient, but the strongest clinical trial evidence for testosterone therapy in women remains with transdermal treatment. This article explains what is known about subcutaneous testosterone injections, possible benefits and risks, laboratory monitoring, and how medical hormone management can be combined with chiropractic care, rehabilitation, functional medicine, and musculoskeletal treatment.

Why Testosterone Matters in Women’s Health

Women produce testosterone mainly through the ovaries and adrenal glands. Testosterone levels generally decline with age, and removal of the ovaries can cause a more sudden decrease (Davison et al., 2005).

The best-supported medical use of systemic testosterone therapy in women is for hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD, in postmenopausal women when low sexual desire causes personal distress. Randomized trials have found improvements in sexual desire, arousal, pleasure, orgasm, satisfaction, and sexual distress in properly selected women (Davis et al., 2019; Parish et al., 2021).

Testosterone also has biological relationships with:

• Muscle tissue and physical performance
• Bone metabolism
• Sexual desire and arousal
• Red blood cell production
• Fat distribution and metabolism
• Mood and energy pathways

However, it is important to separate biological roles from proven treatment benefits. Current consensus evidence does not establish physiologic testosterone therapy as a treatment for increasing muscle mass, improving cognition, treating depression, losing body fat, or preventing osteoporosis in otherwise healthy women. The Medivant/Worldborne whitepaper similarly notes that randomized evidence for body composition, cognition, and broader wellness outcomes remains limited or inconsistent.

What Are Subcutaneous Testosterone Injections?

A subcutaneous, or SubQ, testosterone injection delivers a small amount of testosterone into the fatty tissue directly beneath the skin instead of placing it deep into a muscle.

Once deposited in this tissue, testosterone cypionate in its carrier oil acts as a depot from which medication is gradually absorbed. With appropriately selected small doses and dosing intervals, the goal is to maintain testosterone exposure within a woman’s physiologic range rather than produce male-range testosterone levels.

Hone Health describes its women’s testosterone cypionate treatment as a SubQ injection given with a small needle rather than an intramuscular injection (Hone Health, 2026).

Some practical reasons clinicians and patients may consider SubQ delivery include:

• Smaller needles
• Avoidance of deep intramuscular injections
• The ability to divide treatment into small doses
• No medication left on the skin that could transfer to another person
• Easier dose adjustment than a fixed implanted pellet
• Convenient self-administration when properly prescribed and taught

The supplied clinical whitepaper also notes that a subcutaneous depot can theoretically provide low, controlled exposure and that injections avoid the transfer risk associated with topical products. At the same time, it emphasizes an important limitation: dedicated randomized efficacy trials of subcutaneous testosterone injections in women are lacking.

Subcutaneous Versus Intramuscular Testosterone

Intramuscular testosterone is injected deeper into the muscle. Subcutaneous testosterone goes into the fatty tissue beneath the skin.

FOLX Health’s injection education material explains that both IM and SubQ hormone injections can be used clinically, although needle length and injection sites differ (FOLX Health, n.d.).

For women receiving physiologic testosterone replacement, dose control is especially important because female therapeutic exposure is much lower than typical male testosterone replacement dosing.

The Medivant whitepaper makes this distinction clear. Randomized efficacy evidence in women is strongest for transdermal patches, gels, and creams. It describes subcutaneous injection as a potentially titratable route, but notes that there is no established milligram-for-milligram conversion between proven transdermal regimens and SubQ injections.

Therefore, injectable therapy should not simply copy a male testosterone protocol at a smaller volume.

The Goal Is a Female Physiologic Range

One of the most important principles of testosterone therapy for women is simple:

More testosterone is not necessarily better.

Therapy should aim for normal physiologic female exposure rather than supraphysiologic levels.

The Global Consensus Position Statement and ISSWSH guideline recommend avoiding testosterone concentrations above the normal premenopausal female range (Davis et al., 2019; Parish et al., 2021).

The whitepaper makes another important point: blood testosterone is useful for monitoring treatment, but a low laboratory number alone does not diagnose HSDD. Clinicians should first evaluate symptoms, medical history, medications, relationship factors, sleep, mood, genitourinary problems, and other causes.

What Benefits Can Women Expect?

The strongest evidence concerns sexual health. In appropriately selected postmenopausal women with HSDD, physiologic testosterone therapy can improve sexual desire and satisfaction (Davis et al., 2019).

Patients and clinicians also sometimes report changes in energy, mood, workout recovery, strength, or well-being. Sources such as Hone Health, Highland Longevity, and DeRosa’s 2025 review discuss these broader potential benefits.

However, present these broader claims carefully. Cedars-Sinai summarizes the evidence well: testosterone has evidence for helping some women with HSDD, while evidence for mood, energy, cognition, muscle performance, and other menopause complaints remains inconsistent or insufficient (Bieber, 2026).

That distinction matters when developing an evidence-based treatment plan.

Testosterone, Muscle Strength, and Musculoskeletal Health

Testosterone receptors are present in skeletal muscle and bone. This helps explain why testosterone is biologically connected with musculoskeletal health.

But testosterone should not be treated as a replacement for exercise, rehabilitation, protein intake, sleep, or treatment of mechanical problems.

This is where an integrative approach becomes useful.

A woman may have adequate hormone levels but still have:

• Restricted spinal or joint movement
• Muscle weakness or deconditioning
• Poor posture
• Reduced hip or core stability
• Previous injuries
• Pain that limits exercise
• Poor balance or coordination

These problems require mechanical and rehabilitative treatment rather than simply increasing a hormone dose.

Where Integrative Chiropractic Care Fits

Chiropractic care does not replace testosterone therapy, and spinal manipulation should not be presented as a way of raising testosterone levels.

Instead, chiropractic and rehabilitative care can address the musculoskeletal side of health while the medical team manages hormone therapy.

Dr. Alexander Jimenez, DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CCST, CFMP, IFMCP, ATN, describes a clinical approach that evaluates movement, spinal mechanics, soft tissues, inflammation, strength, lifestyle factors, and rehabilitation rather than treating one painful area in isolation. His practice materials describe combining chiropractic care, functional medicine, personal injury care, and rehabilitation.

An integrated program may therefore include:

• Chiropractic assessment of spinal and joint mechanics
• Mobility and flexibility work
• Progressive resistance exercises
• Core, hip, and postural stabilization
• Balance and coordination training
• Nutrition and adequate protein
• Sleep and recovery strategies
• Medical hormone evaluation and laboratory monitoring

The objective is not for chiropractic treatment to “boost testosterone.” Instead, optimal biomechanics and rehabilitation can help a patient use her muscles safely and progressively while her medical provider manages any appropriate endocrine treatment.

A Multidisciplinary Model at Injury Medical Clinic PA

At Injury Medical Clinic PA in El Paso, Texas, Dr. Jimenez works in a multidisciplinary model with Dr. Maria Guadalupe Cardenas, MD, NPI 1164426749, her Texas medical license as J2933, an internal medicine physician who serves as Medical Director and Collaborative Physician.

This type of structure enables the care team to address different parts of a patient’s health together. Dr. Cardenas provides internal medicine medical direction and oversight, while Dr. Jimenez integrates chiropractic care, family-practice perspectives within his licensed scope, functional medicine, personal injury evaluation, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, and related services.

For a woman considering testosterone therapy, this collaborative model can be valuable because hormone treatment should not occur in isolation from cardiovascular health, medications, metabolic health, previous cancer history, musculoskeletal function, and overall medical risk.

Monitoring Testosterone Therapy Safely

Women receiving testosterone should be monitored rather than simply treated according to symptoms.

The whitepaper recommends establishing a baseline testosterone measurement and then checking levels after treatment begins or after dosage adjustments. Patients should also be watched for signs of androgen excess.

Possible side effects include:

• Acne or oily skin
• Increased facial or body hair
• Scalp hair thinning
• Menstrual changes
• Voice changes
• Clitoral enlargement at excessive exposure
• Injection-site irritation

Sufficiently large, long-duration randomized trials have not yet established long-term cardiovascular and breast safety.

The whitepaper recommends judging treatment response over approximately three to six months and avoiding dose escalation above the physiologic female range when meaningful improvement is absent.

What About Compounded Prefilled Testosterone?

Medivant Healthcare markets Andrenyx, a compounded testosterone cypionate product supplied in single-dose prefilled syringes for subcutaneous use. The manufacturer states that it is produced by an FDA-registered 503B outsourcing facility. Importantly, Medivant also clearly states that Andrenyx is not an FDA-approved drug product and that testosterone cypionate is a Schedule III controlled substance.

That distinction should be part of informed consent.

The Medivant whitepaper itself also warns that compounded testosterone preparations are not FDA-approved and that treatment decisions require individualized diagnosis, monitoring, dosing, and shared decision-making.

Building a Whole-Body Plan for Women’s Health

Testosterone therapy should be viewed as one possible tool—not the entire treatment plan.

For an appropriate patient, a comprehensive strategy may combine medical hormone management with resistance training, proper nutrition, adequate protein, weight-bearing activity, chiropractic care, rehabilitation, metabolic assessment, sleep improvement, and management of underlying medical conditions.

For Dr. Jimenez’s integrative model, the practical goal is to connect biochemistry with biomechanics. Clinicians evaluate hormones medically, while addressing joints, muscles, movement patterns, previous injuries, and physical function through musculoskeletal care and rehabilitation.

This approach helps keep the focus where it belongs: improving health and function while using testosterone only when the clinical indication, laboratory monitoring, risks, and expected benefits have been carefully discussed.

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References

Bieber, A. (2026, April 9). Cedars-Sinai. Testosterone therapy for women.

Davis, S. R., Baber, R., Panay, N., et al. (2019). Global consensus position statement on the use of testosterone therapy for women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 104(10), 4660-4666.

DeRosa, A. (2025). Testosterone therapy in women: Breaking myths and gaps. Medical Research Archives, 13(11).

Dermatology Associates, PC. (2026). Testosterone therapy for women: Benefits, risks, and who should consider.

FOLX Health. (n.d.). Estrogen and testosterone HRT/GAHT: Subcutaneous vs. intramuscular injections.

Hatzilabrou, T. A. (n.d.). Testosterone therapy in women. Worldborne Medical Clinical Frontiers: Androgen Series. Medivant Healthcare.

Highland Longevity. (2026). Women’s testosterone dosing guide: How much should a woman inject per week?.

Hone Health. (2026). Injectable testosterone cypionate for women.

Hone Health. (2026). Testosterone cypionate injection for women: Risks & benefits.

Jimenez, A. (n.d.). Injury Medical Clinic PA: Dr. Alexander Jimenez, DC, APRN, FNP-BC.

Jimenez, A. (n.d.). Dr. Alexander Jimenez’s professional profile and clinical observations.

Medivant Healthcare. (n.d.). Andrenyx compounded testosterone cypionate prefilled syringe.

Parish, S. J., Simon, J. A., Davis, S. R., et al. (2021). International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health clinical practice guideline for the use of systemic testosterone for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 18(5), 849-867.