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Subscribe to RSSBefore the thunder rolls in or the first drop of rain falls, some people predict showers even without consulting the forecast -- they know it will rain because their joints ache.
Rheumatologist Dr. William F. Harvey treats many patients suffering from some form of arthritis and almost all of them recall extra pain when it is rainy or cold. It’s so common it seems everyone knows someone who predicts the weather by saying her joints throb, but it’s not an old wives' tale. Weather pains exist.
“It’s a very widely held belief. I am not sure I remember any patients who did not feel [pain during weather changes],” says Harvey, who works at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, as many as 27 million Americans live with osteoarthritis, what’s considered old-age or wear-and-tear arthritis (though there is about 100 different varieties of the condition). By 70, most people have osteoarthritis.
“It is fairly well accepted that changes in weather do affect patients’ joints,” says Dr. Greg Deirmengian, an orthopedist at the Rothman Institute at the Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. (Although some people who had broken bones also complain of weather pain, Deirmengian suspects the pain originates from arthritis in adjacent joints.)
Researchers have attempted to study weather-related arthritis aches with varied success (they can’t ask patients if they feel more pain during rain or cold because the question is leading). Harvey points to a study -- conducted by a colleague at Tufts, Dr. Timothy McAlindon, published in 2007 in the American Journal of Medicine -- that looked at barometric pressure and joint pain. McAlindon called people with osteoarthritis in their knees, asking them about their pain and how they manage it. Then he compared their pain with weather in their area during the day of the call. He found that subjects experienced more discomfort on days when barometric pressure and ambient temperature shifted, what occurs with rain.
“What it showed was that changes in barometric pressure and different temperature did affect their perception of pain,” Harvey says.
Understanding the exact reason why this occurs puzzles doctors, but there are several theories.
Most experts believe joints ache during stormy weather because atmospheric pressure changes cause additional pressure in the body. Arthritic joints, which lack enough cartilage to properly cushion them and are often surrounded by extra fluid, feel these changes more intensely than healthy joints. Also, Harvey says arthritic joints are under more pressure than healthy ones, contributing to added pain during weather changes. Studies conducted on scuba divers with arthritis show that added pressure increases pain.
Harvey also notes that how blood vessels act in cold weather could contribute to pain. Blood vessels dilate, causing muscles and joints to tense and stiffen and adding to pain. Cold temperatures also could cause the fluid that lubricates joints to be less viscous, preventing joints from moving smoothly.
Also, nerves could play a role, says Deirmengian. Everyone has nerves in their joints, which help them move, but arthritic joints are more sensitive. When the outside pressure changes, these already twitchy nerve endings might feel the swing more acutely.
Anyone experience more arthritis discomfort during weather changes should try home remedies such as taking anti-inflammatories, icing or heating the joint, or using a brace.
“Patients get flair of arthritis; ups and downs,” says Deirmengian. Weather causes some of those flairs.
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Leave a Comment:
FIRST!!!
homonym error? I think "flare" as in "flare up" might be better. I know, everyone's a critic.
One and only, shame on you. The reporter was writing with a "flair" and got carried away. :-)
Oh dear, good catch! Fixing now. Thanks, Eagle Eyes :)
And this one managed to get through the editing process: "(though there IS about 100 different VARIETIES of the condition)" . . . . Come on, if you're writing in the big leagues, you need to match your language: "though there ARE about 100 different varieties." I'd suggest more thorough proofreading before posting next time. That said, your premise is spot-on. My husband and I both have two artificial knees, and even with the new knees, we can tell when the weather's about to change.
Why use "there" at all? Over 100 different varieties are known to exist. We were taught to toss "there" as soon as it reared its ugly head. Grammar police strikes again. Even better: Over 100 different varieties exist.
However, my first thought on reading the headline, "Duh, ya think?" My office coworkers regularly ask me my weather predictions, and they heed them. I am seldom wrong when the barometric pressure changes. It's not so much of whether it is going to rain, but noting the change of weather. My joints ache in both directions.
A Stanford University psychologist has done a new study and reports that arthritis pain may have nothing to do with barometric pressure or dampness or humidity. Instead, he said, patients' enduring belief that their arthritis pain is related to the weather is caused by an innate human tendency to find patterns whether they are there or not.
The researchers found no correlation between the patients' symptoms and the weather, no matter what aspect of weather they looked at. They even considered nine different time lags, from two days before to two days after a patient reported pain, but the weather simply was not related to pain, they found.
The best explanation, is that the human brain is designed to look for patterns, even if, statistically, patterns do not exist. Dr. Tversky said he could understand why people might attribute arthritis pain to the weather. "If your joints ache, you look for a reason." he said. "If it's not rain, it's barometric pressure. If it's not barometric pressure, it's humidity." "the longer you live with arthritis, if anything the greater your degree of confidence" that weather influences your pain.
Raymond tell that to my joints!
Absolute bunk! I thought it was ridiculous, too, until it happened to me. My joint pain is more accurate at predicting rain than the local meteorologist. It wasn't my expectation and it still happened. While I don't wish my condition on anyone, I'd love the Stanford psychologist to spend the month of April in my body and then tell me how it isn't true.
My daughter's knees are her weatherman. My knuckles ache, I am 73, more so when my hands are cool, but no difference caused by rain that I have noticed.
I've been having this problem since I was a young child and realized it was related to the weather well before a doctor ever suggested it. Now to be clear - the weather is not the sole determinant of my pain, but I am more likely to feel the pain or have more enduring pain, when the weather turns. I was a lot more pain-free living in San Diego than I am now living in New England, but my daily lifestyle hasn't changed. Think it might be the weather?
Raymond I want someone to explain to my knees at 3 am when I can't sleep from the pain in them that it is all in my head. What the dream I might have been having caused the pain don't think so. Sorry don't need a fancy degree or Stanford job to tell me that the weather affects my joints and the same goes for many of us that are supposedly just looking for weather signs to say our joints hurt. At least the rheumatologist knows the truth.
So, what is the cause and conclusion of the study? Or do we have to do more research to find the conclusion of the research?
Raymond maybe the guy from Stanford doesn't have arthritis! My arthritis starts flaring up as soon as a low preassure system starts moving in. The worse my knee is aching all night when the storm is overhead dumping rain and eases up when it is bright and sunny. Funny how your research shows what your opinion is and not any facts. I can also get flares from high elevation = low atmospheric preassure. Now according to YOUR research I am either a nutcase or Psychic which is it? Who cares I know what is true for me, And hopefully someday you will get arthritis and get stuck in the middle of a hurricane then you will feel the pain.
Well, I'm sure if it is anything at all, it IS in fact, barometric pressure.
BUT, according to the quote in the article:
"Most experts believe joints ache during stormy weather because atmospheric pressure changes cause additional pressure in the body."
Well, the above simply doesn't ring true to me. Far as I can tell, most storm systems (not all but most) are associated with LOW pressure systems, not high pressure systems. If the body was experiencing additional pressure, that would result from a high pressure system moving in.
So, what I REALLY wonder is, when the pressure is RELEASED by a low pressure system moving in, is that when the pain occurs
I have been in FL & cannot walk because of it weather, humidity & hot n cold all affect it...up in Boston somewhat better can walk, but still know when a storm is coming. My mother same thing, my daughter same. It is not bunk..
I was one of the first cases diagnosed as having psoriatic arthritis, at the age of three (1956). It was mostly in the hands and feet. I was a telephone lineman for 38 years, and developed osteo, and now, rheumatoid arthritis. I've tried everything at least once, and alcohol became a big problem. I've fixed that. The glaring common denominator of pain levels has been sudden changes in barometric pressure. Until 1995, I lived and worked, outside, in the northeast from VA to ME, and west to IL, where the barometer can swing wildly. An approaching thunderstorm could be grueling. I've since moved to WA, in the Puget sound, where you would think the rainy days would be the worst possible place, but no....It's very temporate, ranging from 35-75 degrees with moderate humidity and slow swings. It's still aggravated, but is far more bearable. I've also tried the southwest, and it was an improvement, but it's about as good as it gets up here!
Jon-1697959
when a low pressure system approaches the pressure inside your body increases causing pain.
try this; take a cold bottle of ketchup thats been sitting upside down in the fridge out set on counter top upside down and allow it to reach room temperature and then open it in upside down position and see what happens......have fun cleaning up.
This just proves that there is currently no accurate way to gauge it.
But damn my arm was giving me hell when that flooding was hitting Vermont and New Hampshire.
I had a labrum tear in my right hip that went untreated for several years. After it was repaired (and subsequently re-torn), the cold does something vicious to it. I tend to have a 'winter limp' up here in chilly New England.
The best treatment for your condition is a simple "Ice Pack" to the affected area.
Yes Raymond and that Ice Pack makes my knees hurt worse next idea please. One that actually works would be nice, by the way are you a Dr. or just a wanabe??
Raymond, it's easy to dismiss until it happens to you. To dismiss someone's chronic pain by using an ice pack is so incredibly callous that I cannot believe you said that.
After several surgeries on my back and having wires implanted into my back to try to help with my chronic pain I can tell you the weather. I hurt EVERY DAY, but when it's going to rain I hurt even more.
I'm glad you are such an expert on pain. I don't wish anything bad happen to you, but eventually it will and you will realize that after the initial injury may go away, there is damage inside that may never be repaired.
And for one study at Stanford to be used as your bible on this is just silly. I would want more information on the study:
1. How many people were in the study?
2. How many people of each gender?
3. The ages of the people in the study?
4. How long was this study?
5. Where did they live?
6. How long did they have their pain before this study?
7. What brought on the initial pain, car accident, getting hurt at work, (or like me, I turned at the waist when I was sitting down and herniated 2 disks and broke bone chips off of them so the chips rubbed against my sciatic nerve like steel wool until my first surgery 4 months later)?
8. How were they treating their pain before the study?
9. How were they treating their pain after the study?
10. I'm sure I'll think of other questions, but that's it for now.
I hope you never have chronic pain. It is depressing, wears on you, hurts, prevents you from doing the things you used to do because it hurts too much either during, or after, you do them. Pain is a very personal thing to many people. Doctors dismiss women especially when they go for help. Women are told to learn to live with it, or given pain killers, muscle relaxers, or various drugs and surgeries to try to get relief.
Chronic pain can steal your life. We define ourselves by our jobs, but chronic pain can take that away from you. Things you used to do, work, going out to dinner, going to a movie, taking a walk with friends are all impossible just because you turned your body at the waist while you were sitting down.
Can I predict the weather? I can. I hurt more the day before, during, and after rain, snow, high humidity. For doctors to rely on one study is ludicrous...and insulting to those of us who live with pain every day.
As someone who suffers from joint pain, particularly when the weather changes, I have to agree with Raymond. I find that ice and ibuprofen help me the most. When it's still bugging me, I'll break out the Ben Gay or Icy Hot. For me the pain seems to be from inflammation in the joints. Both ice and ibuprofen help reduce inflammation. I learned this from my daughter's coaches and doctor when she had joint injuries. Also a chiropractor and orthopedic doctor that I went to told me the same thing. I used to think heat was the answer as that was what I was taught growing up or maybe that's what doctors thought back then. Anyhow, ice is what they say these days and it does help me WAY more than heat.
But yes, I can definitely tell when the weather's going to change. My grandmother could also. Her fingers would get a waxy look too so it was more than just a psychological pain. Whether someone wants to believe it's "all in my head" or not, I can't help that. I just know that I will continue to listen to my joints as they're right about the weather a lot more than the weather forecast. :p
And you can predict tornados by watching barometic pressure. Most things are more interesting when we shroud them in "mystery".
My knees hurt when there's a low pressure system, and also like 12 hours before it rains.
I have arthritis of the spine. The pain worsens 24-48 hrs ahead of a low-pressure system. I have done that for the past 15 yrs. There are days, especially during colder weather, when I can barely move and nothing realy helps with the pain. Heat helps for 20 mins at max and cold packs do nothing. My doctor understood and knew that his patients with arthitis could tell what the weather was going to be ahead of time.
i am 71. i have had a rain hip and a snow knee as long as i can remember. i don't have osteoporosis and have never had a broken bone. have not always lived in the same area. have been in tornadoes and hurricanes with the same physical symptoms. the only thing that varies is the severity and the duration.
This makes sense. I tend to get headaches whenever cold fronts or low-pressure systems move in.
This is probably a bit nit-picky, but where it says "...there is about 100 different varieties..." it should probably say "are" instead of "is".
I also get headaches just before the weather changes. always on the left side of my head. i think it has something to do with influence of the barometric pressure on the sinuses of that side
I have an epileptic condition called suicide headaches(cluster headaches)If the pressure drops or raises too fast it throws me into seizure like headaches. they last 45-90 min you can set a clock to them.They come on for about ten min.go away then come back for the remaining 25 to 30 min. Just about anything I'm not accustome to will throw me into one Have them about 5 times a day for the past 30 years or so?they say they go away in most people some time in there forty's.hoping for the day.they started when I was young and progressively got worse.they relate it to the equivalent pain of having a child according to pregnant wimen.but it effects mostly men about 30,000 in the u.s
I got terrible headaches when I was a younger man...It was from people who kept telling me to "suck it up"! Well, at least I've outlived them! HaHa!
I get headaches when it rains or snows, usually. I have read numerous books on headaches, and it is fairly common knowledge that migraine people often get headaches with weather conditions- at least some of the headache experts are aware of the phenomenon. I didnt believe it until my husband kept pointing it out to me. Every time it rained, here came my headache, sure enough.
Not only my joints hurt, but the rod in my leg hurts.
Raymond...I trust you don't have arthritis. Two nights ago, despite my usual celebrex dose, my left hip hurt so bad I could hardly stand it. I wasn't even thinking about the weather. The next day, big rainstorm happened. Last night, I was expecting the same pain, but slept comfortably all night.
Wait 'til you experience it, and you'll know.
By the way, I am an RN and I have seen many patients with sickle cell come in to the hospital in crisis which was brought on by changes in weather and barometric pressure.
Remember, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
Love your response to Raymond!
On this posting this person is holding on finger, and it is true I feel the pain every time,
a day or so before the clouds roll in, back, feet, neck, arms, legs.
And it is bad on the partthat has had surgery. I think it is the pressure change in the atmosphere the wind and temperature can also play a part. With Fibromialgia it makes it twice as worse *too me* than just Arthritis and I have both and several surgery point, 18 point Fibromialgia, so am in pain most of the time. And exercise just makes it even worse, so I wish they would stop telling ppl with Fibromialgia to exercise, it don't help. I have had this mystery pain for over 15yrs but it is REAL.
Since when is taking an anti-inflammatory a "home remedy"??!!??
I've had joint pain with weather changes since as early as I can remember. But over the past 6 months it's gotten really bad - ibuprofen is ineffective (and adding acetaminophen to the mix doesn't help either). It's bad to the point of me wanting to just sit and cry in pain... sadly, when I went for my physical, my Dr largely didn't care said to just keep taking pain killers. Anyone have any better suggestions? I've tried Aspercreme but it made my skin really itchy... it may or may not have worked, not sure. The pain affects my knuckles, wrists and knees most - but can also affect my elbows, ankles, and toes. So basically, all my extremities.
I am 65 and smell the same as when I was 21.
Wrong article. Try again..
What causes the pain is atmospheric pressure is changing which cause the joints to ache.
My dog really knows when the atmospheric pressure changes whether it rains or not
My first 'weather pain ' came back in 1991 . We then lived on the 'big island' of Hawaii . I had broke my femar joint in a fall . The way my 'pain' would hit when I would be knapping in the living room after lunch was something . I would get a sudden hot pain ,right on the point of the 4 pin they used to put me together , whenever a 'nimbus' cloud would pass between the sun & me . The pain would be gone when the cloud passed then return as the sun got blocked again . I never heard of anything about it from anyone before my own 'pain' but maybe that because we don't want people laughing at our pain . Later , we had a huricane starting to get within 1200 miles of our island. I could 'fine tune ' my hip pain by turnning like a radar toward the source of my pain . Chart the time/direction , compare the weather photos with me chart . It was spooky . For the timing of where the storm was on map is where my 'pain 'said it was ! I knew I had something to share but with who? 21 years have passed the pain still lets me know where it's source is ,but its not as blasing hot as it was when the pins were in . Ha anyone got 'pins' and feel this heat or hot pain ??
Who would think these old wive's tales have an element of truth to them? Kind of like stereotypes have a grounding in truth.
Guess that explains my feeling a pain in my ass every time I see Mitt Romney change his position on any subject, depending on who he is speaking to. Mitt does more waffles in a week than IHOP.
Oh well. At least he likes to fire people.
MY Father had inflammatory rheumatism and my mon did also! Its hereditary so the doctor says! I have it in my spine,all over my body,every joint! I am a walking weather machine! I cant take inflammatory drugs due to diver ticulitis that bleeds! I cant take the pills that would help me! I pray alot but i have over the years learned to live with the pain! If you call this living loooool! I cant do any of the things i loved to due years ago like gardening etc.! My husband had bad sinus problems, i called his head the human barometer LOOOL! He would say Ohhh! I have pain in my right eye,that meant really bad storm blizzard tornado etc! Pain in the left eye meant not too bad, but a storm nontheless LOOOL! We were a good pair the two of us! He is deceased now God Bless him! I cant sleep at night for pain! I also have nothing between my six lower lumars in my back! And the spine is full of arthritis also! They wont operate no way! Doc says i wouldnt touch your back for nothin! SoI pray and suffer and pray, but God is good to me, He helps me to endure the pain, and my life isnt without some pleasures! But God Bless anybody who has arthritis and inflammatory rheumatism, i cant even type right,excuse my spelling! But we can tell the weather with our pain thats 100% true!
Baby Roses, I absolutely can attest to that I get an awful pain in my knees and shoulders when ever we,re going to get bad weather and I live in a hurricane zone. So from june to november I'm a weather woman. Persons are entitled to ther own opinions but until they experience this real pain for themselves they will be unbelieving.
I used to feel winter storms coming in the winter of 1994 after having surgery. That was the worst year for winter storms on the east coast. But after I healed I no longer felt the storms coming. I know this wasn't arthritis but still felt weather coming .
I think that the author made an error when he said that cold weather causes the blood vessels to dilate. In fact, they constrict in cold weather
The author writes that blood vessels dilate in cold weather when, in fact, they constrict in cold weather
During the early part of 1994, I had surgery and could feel every winter storm that was coming. That was one of the worst years for winter storms in NJ. I lost the ability as I healed though.
I can tell if it's going to be raining, my bones hurt. I'm 28.
To relieve the aches and pains associated with weather changes I take Dandelion root in capsules, it's a diuretic that doesn't deplete Potassium like the synthetic ones do. Lucky me, it was worth a try and it worked. No more swollen feet either.
I've had to increase my water intake but I'm still pain free and of course I had to increase the bathroom breaks as well. I take 525mg caps, 1 cap 3 times a day, 1/2 the rate recommended on the bottle. Bragging, not! Just informing.
Hi,I have Juvenile Rheumatiod Arthritis since I was 4 years old now i am 27 years old and i can tell when the weather is changing but I also know achy joints,stiffness,and swelling does not predict weather Changes especially if I am having a Flare & its active all the time then I do not think weather Changes are the cause! But when I lived in Texas that convinced me because living in Texas is warm in the months from November-February & is even Hot in the Summer before Texas I lived in a state that had very Cold Winters and yes,I had achy joints,stiffness and some swelling so I guess Achy joints can Predict cold weather,rain or whatever else! I still refer to my Arthrits eventhough I am older as Juvenile Rheumatiod Arthritis because I grew up with it and sometimes when achy i say its going to rain! :)