Winter is here in the PNW! Until Sunday, March 20, 2023 to be exact. I’m not counting the days.
One thing I notice during the winter months is an increase in people talking about the weather affecting their joint pain. Comments like the following:
“It’s raining more, so my joints are hurting more.”
“My shoulders hurt because of the cold. I’m scrunched up in a little ball all the time.”
“Does weather affect your body?”
We’ve written about weather before in our blogs, but I thought it was a good time to touch base again about weather and joint pain. What does weather do to your body? Can the cold and rain really affect it?
If you try to look into studies on weather and joint pain, it might be hard to find something really strong on the topic. This is because a lot of the studies on weather and joint pain look at small groups of people. However, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence.
The Cleveland Clinic writes about how weather affects joints nicely here. The Cleveland Clinic says that when the barometric pressure drops, the weight of the earth’s air on us is less. That then allows our tissue to swell which could alter what we feel. (1)
When it’s cold outside, your body tries to warm its core. The blood from your arms and legs is decreased, and the blood in your core around your organs is increased. This could make your joints in our extremities feel different! Stiff, painful, etc.
Have you heard of Raynaud’s Syndrome? Raynaud’s Syndrome is when the small blood vessels in your hands spasm, causing them to turn white and potentially hurt. This happens from the cold and sometimes emotional stress, like anxiety. This is an example of when the weather can directly affect the body!
Next time you are outside in the cold, stop and think about your body position. Where are your shoulders? Usually, they are raised up towards your ears a little more. They might be rolled forward. What does your spine feel like? Is it rigid? Sometimes we hold tension in the body when it’s cold to “guard”. Sometimes when it’s cold, we hunch inward a lot to feel warm. Are your fists clenched? Are your elbows squeezing in towards your sides? These postures and positions can absolutely make us feel different.
In short, the weather does affect the body. The exact reasoning might not be supported strongly by research, but anecdotally, the evidence is strong. What do you think about the weather and how it affects your body? Email your PT to share or talk to your PT about it during your next session! You and your PT can talk about how to help manage weather changes and increased pain.
SOURCES:
(1) Team, Chronic Conditions. “Can Your Joints Really Predict the Weather?” Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, 9 Oct. 2020, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/yes-joints-can-predict-weather/.