In case your grandmother’s ability to predict a day storm on a sunny morning seemed almost psychic whenever you were a baby, then it’d interest you to learn that it’s greater than easy superstition. Particular joint pain is sensitive to weather conditions, especially changes in weather, corresponding to temperature, pressure, and humidity. Cold weather affects joint pain essentially the most, and arthritic conditions corresponding to rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are essentially the most sensitive to environmental changes. Cold weather joint pain affects many individuals, and thankfully there may be a cure.
While some people consider that it’s just the drop in barometric pressure of an oncoming storm that makes joint pain and general fatigue worse, it’s more often the increase in humidity that results in the pain-induced herald effect, along with the pressure and temperature changes.
Changing Seasons Effect Cold Weather Joint Pain?
Weather is a mix of various environmental aspects, especially within the atmosphere. Not all of those aspects are relevant to pain, especially joint pain. But three significant weather changes appear to affect pain essentially the most:
- Cold. Temperature drops, meaning a drastic change from a relatively hot to a cooler temperature, may need a more significant hostile effect on chronic pain than a repeatedly cold temperature. Research also indicates that cold temperatures encourage the body to conserve heat by specializing in internal organs – reducing blood flow to the limbs and increasing joint pain.
- Pressure. Most individuals erroneously assume that greater pressure means more joint pain, but the other is true. Barometric pressure, or the load of the atmosphere, drops just before a storm approaches—the faster and more severe the drop, the harsher the oncoming storm. The speculation goes that good weather days help reduce joint pain through that mild, ambient atmospheric pressure. In contrast, bad weather days may end up in significant pain on account of changes in blood circulation throughout the body or nerve sensitivity.
- Humidity. While cooler temperatures and atmospheric pressure can understandably impact blood circulation and nerve functioning, humidity correlates essentially the most with joint pain. Rainy days, incredibly cool rainy days, are inclined to increase pain symptoms greater than another weather change dramatically.
One in all the difficulties in addressing this topic is that there must be more research beyond surveys and patient testimonies. Individuals with arthritic pain are inclined to report increased pain on rainy, cold days or before a storm. We also know that there are several different reasons why this may increasingly occur.
Methods for Easing Cold Weather Joint Pain
But we must determine which of those reasons must be counted as real culprits and to what degree. More research is required to grasp how weather changes affect the body’s perception of pain, especially within the joints.
That being said, you may still do just a few things to treatment joint pain on bad days, especially when the weather is taking a turn for the more serious.
Warm Blankets and a Cup of Cocoa
Creature comforts can go a great distance and will at all times be addressed. As an alternative of just tucking yourself in, think about using an electrical blanket so as to add warmth, especially across the more painful areas of the body. Simply keeping warm and dry during bad weather days might help reduce joint pain.
Crank up the warmth at home, or use a dehumidifier or an air filter to maintain moisture out of the air. Gloves and socks may help keep your body heat from escaping. Alternatively, use heating pads on sore spots.
Exercise to Keep Warm
While it could be the very last thing in your mind on a foul pain day, gentle exercise can significantly help reduce pain signals and release painkilling endorphins. Regular exercise may make it easier to reduce pain by strengthening the supportive muscles around your joints, improving your bone density, improving joint health, and helping you maintain healthier body weight.
The keyword here is gentle exercise—load management matters. Avoid jumping right into a strenuous activity, or at the least ramp as much as something heavy with frequent warmups. Use dynamic stretches – corresponding to arm swings and hip circles – as an alternative of static stretches and get your steps in to extend your core temperature and blood flow.
Over-the-Counter Methods
NSAIDs like ibuprofen and other over-the-counter painkillers might help take the sting off sudden spikes in pain and enable a greater degree of activity over a foul weather period. Think about using an over-the-counter painkiller to dull an acute pain episode and encourage moderate physical activity.
Winter Blues and Pain Perception
The mind plays a more significant role in pain management and perception than most expect. Certain mood states and emotions can dull pain – and others could make the pain much worse.
Low mood, especially chronic low mood (corresponding to depression), can increase pain perception and lower pain tolerance. When you are inclined to feel down over the colder months, especially around the vacations, your pain levels might worsen despite no change in your condition or management techniques.
Working to improve your mood in the long run might do more to assist together with your pain, in these cases, than short-term pain relief. Consider picking up healthy stress management habits and coping skills for the winter blues – or in cases of seasonal depression, discuss with a counselor or therapist about skilled mental treatment.
Skilled Pain Management for Cold Weather Joint Pain
Staying dry, staying warm, staying healthy, and improving your circulation are only just a few ways to assist address increased joint pain over the winter months. But in case your pain is recurring, chronic, or severe and doesn’t respond well to home methods, it could be time to hunt skilled pain management.
A pain management clinic can put you in contact with several different specialists who can higher determine why and the way your pain condition responds to environmental stressors, from holiday stress to a drop in temperature and activity, and create a personalised treatment plan that mixes different modalities – corresponding to physical therapy, heat therapy, and drugs – to make it easier to manage your joint pain symptoms, irrespective of how severe they’re.
