Does Weather Affect Joint Pain?

The joints are essential components of the body where two or more bones meet to allow movement. Many things can affect your joints, causing mild to severe pain and, sometimes, permanent damage.

Joint pain is debilitating, especially when arthritis causes it, and traditional treatments don't help. But why may your joint pain worsen with changing climate conditions, especially in the cold winter months or during a rainstorm?

Understanding the link between the weather and your joints significantly helps you treat joint pain because you're prepared for the change.

However, you may still require expert treatment, which is where Stephanie S. Jones, MD, and the Consultants in Pain Medicine team come into play.

Dr. Jones is a board-certified pain management specialist offering various joint pain treatments for long-term relief. She also helps you understand how the weather affects your joints, so you know how to avoid the pain.

What causes joint pain?

Joint pain occurs for many reasons, ranging from mild injuries to severe damage within the joint. Sometimes, an injury can lead to long-term joint pain if it doesn’t heal correctly or if you don’t seek treatment immediately.

Any joint part can become damaged, leading to either acute or chronic pain. Some of the major culprits behind joint pain include:

• Sprains or strains
• Bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Joint infection
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gout
• Fractures
• Bone infections

Osteoarthritis is another major cause of joint pain. It’s a form of degenerative arthritis that erodes the protective tissues in the joints.

Millions of people live with some form of arthritis, causing long-term joint pain and discomfort. However, help is available, and treatments often help increase mobility and decrease discomfort.

Weather and joint pain

If you have joint pain, you know how much it can change daily. Some days, the pain is bearable, and others, it’s hard to even get out of bed.

Although many factors play into joint pain, the climate and area you live in may worsen your discomfort – but how?

The weather affects joint pain primarily because of the barometric pressure. The barometric pressure is the weight of the air around everyone. Ideally, you want the barometric pressure to be high when you have joint pain because it pushes on the tissues, preventing them from swelling.

However, in bad weather, the barometric pressure drops, allowing the tissues in the body to expand. It can lead to swelling and inflammation, which leads to pain.

But barometric pressure isn’t the only aspect of weather that affects the joints; other elements of the weather also cause joint pain, including:

• Cold and rainy weather prevents people from going outside, which decreases their physical activity and often worsens their arthritis pain.
• Lower temperatures affect the viscosity of the synovial fluid in the joints, which causes inflammation and increased pain.
• Dreary weather affects people’s moods, which may allow them to focus more on their painful joints than when the weather is fair.
• Fluctuations in weather lead to pressure within the joints that ebbs and flows, causing different types of pain throughout the seasons.

If you’re living with lupus or gout, your pain may be worse with warmer weather. Ultimately, the effect of weather on your joints depends on what’s causing joint pain and the type of weather that’s prevalent where you live.

Remedies for joint pain

Unless you’re ready to pack up and move across the country for joint pain relief, you may wonder what else you can do to relieve joint pain. Simple lifestyle changes, such as using heat, ice, or stretching, can help keep your joint pain at bay.

Staying active even in dreary weather also keeps blood flowing to the muscles and tissues in the joints, preventing pain flares. Eating anti-inflammatory foods and taking over-the-counter medications during unfair weather can also help.

If you've tried everything and are still dealing with fluctuations in joint pain, Dr. Jones can help. She offers steroid injections and other invasive procedures to control pain so you can enjoy life.

If you're living with joint pain and need long-term relief, don't hesitate to call Consultants in Pain Medicine today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Jones. You can also request a consultation by sending us a message on the website.