Whether or not weather affects your arthritis pain?

Whether or not weather affects your arthritis pain?

Does weather really affect the severity of your joint pain? Though, I've often wondered this myself, intuitively I've often felt quite sure that there is a relationship between weather conditions and my own joint pain. In fact, most people with arthritis assert with conviction that weather conditions do influence the severity of their pain (Laborde et al, 1986).

Despite our strongly held convictions with respect to the question as to whether or not weather impacts the severity of joint pain, I recently read a clinical trial which tested this hypothesis. In a recent article published in the American Journal of Medicine (McAlindon et al, 2007), they studied 200 geographically isolated individuals with osteoarthritis of the knee. Not surprisingly, their study results confirmed that both cold weather as well as increases in atmospheric pressure are both associated with an increase in joint pain severity.In addition to these recent findings, they also offered some plausible explanations of why cold weather as well as increases in barometric pressure have an impact on arthritis pain severity.

They hypothesized that cold temperatures, for example, could have a direct effect on the viscosity of synovial fluid or indirect effects on inflammatory mediators. Basically, this means that cold temperatures could increase the viscosity or thickness of your joint fluid in much the same way that cold temperatures would affect the oil that you use to lubricate your car's engine. In terms of how barometric pressure affects your arthritis pain, they had some ideas in this regard as well. They cited cadaver studies which show that the intraarticular pressure (pressure inside of your joint) is actually much lower than atmospheric pressure.

Consequently, increases in barometric pressure may actually affect your joint biomechanics. Now that we've established the association between cold weather, increases in barometric pressure, and joint pain, where does that leave us? If you are one of the millions of Canadians or Americans who suffer from Arthritis, now that winter is upon us, there are two simple options for minimizing the impact of weather on your arthritis pain. The simplest solution, particularly if you live in very cold weather climate, is to minimize your exposure to the outdoors--as much as possible. At the very least, be cognizant of how your exposure to the cold affects your joint pain. Secondly, if possible, it gives you one more excuse to take a warm vacation during the winter months.

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McAlindon T, Formica M, Schmid CH, Fletcher J. Changes in barometric pressure and ambient temperature influence osteoarthritis pain. Am J Med. 2007 May;120(5):429-34.Laborde JM,

Dando WA, Powers MJ. Influence of weather on osteoarthritis. Soc Sci Med. 1986; 23(6):549-554.