April 18, 2009
With osteoarthritis does wet or cold weather affect how you feel?
When it is snowing outside or raining, do you feel worse or is it just a myth? Like, do you have any scientific evidence on it, I cant find any and I'd really like to know.
Thanks
I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. The theory is in the atmospheric pressure and joint lubricants.
Weather Effects in Rheumatoid Arthritis: From Controversy to Consensus. A Review
WIEBE R. PATBERG and JOHANNES J. RASKER
ABSTRACT.
Objective. To review and evaluate the evidence for the widespread view that signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are influenced, or even caused, by the weather.
Methods. A literature search from 1985 to April 2003 was performed using the PubMed database of the US National Library of Medicine. Additional relevant articles were identified from the bibliographies, and from our own archives. Methods and findings of the studies were critically reviewed.
Results. Only temperature and humidity appear to have clear influences on the symptoms of RA, although the reported findings do not agree. In many cases, the apparent controversies can be explained by the intimate relationship between temperature and humidity, and by taking local circumstances into account. The differences in the methods applied in studies on effects of weather on RA strongly hampered our evaluation.
Conclusion. RA variables are positively correlated with the humidity of the microclimate at the patient's skin. High outdoor relative humidity is unfavorable, but has less influence when there are few barriers for water vapor, like clothes, and when air conditioning is used. High temperature is unfavorable since it increases absolute humidity, but beneficial as well, since it reduces the presence of barriers, and stimulates the use of air conditioning. The classic opinion, "Cold and wet is bad, warm and dry is good for RA patients," seems to be true only as far as humidity is concerned. (J Rheumatol 2004;31:1327-34)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who swear they can predict the weather by the pain in their arthritic knees may be right after all, a new study suggests.
Using data from a study of U.S. adults with knee arthritis, researchers found that in general, patients' pain flare-ups correlated with changes in temperature and barometric pressure.
The findings are published in the American Journal of Medicine.
While many arthritis sufferers feel the weather affects their pain — some say their pain increases when it's cold or when it rains, for instance — scientific evidence of the phenomenon has been hard to find.
One problem is that, given many people's strong convictions about the effects of weather on their pain, it's difficult to get unbiased reports of pain flare-ups.
To get around this problem, researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston used data from an earlier study that investigated glucosamine for knee arthritis.
The 200 adults in that study reported on their pain levels at several points over three months. The Tufts researchers took that data and compared it with meteorological information obtained from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration on the same days in each patient's local area.
Overall, they found, patients' pain tended to worsen when the temperature dropped or when the barometric pressure increased.
"Our data corroborate the general assertions by people with osteoarthritis that weather conditions influence their pain," Dr. Tim McAlindon and his colleagues report.
Even the 19th century notion that arthritis sufferers fare better in climates that are warm and sunny year-round may be "partly correct," the researchers write.
It's not fully clear why temperature and barometric pressure might influence arthritis pain. Cold temperatures may, for instance, affect joint range of motion, or the flow of the synovial fluid that lubricates the joints, McAlindon's team suggests.
Barometric pressure refers to the weight of the surrounding air, and it fluctuates with changes in altitude or weather. Some research, McAlindon and his colleagues note, suggests that atmospheric pressure plays a role in the stabilization of the body's joints.
SOURCE: American Journal of Medicine, May 2007.
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Comments on With osteoarthritis does wet or cold weather affect how you feel? »
No it is most defiantly not a myth. I have osteoarthritis and always know when the rain or snow is coming because I have pain and stiffness in my joints. My doctor told me when I asked about it they his patients feel the same way due to the barometric pressure changes.
References :
I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. The theory is in the atmospheric pressure and joint lubricants.
Weather Effects in Rheumatoid Arthritis: From Controversy to Consensus. A Review
WIEBE R. PATBERG and JOHANNES J. RASKER
ABSTRACT.
Objective. To review and evaluate the evidence for the widespread view that signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are influenced, or even caused, by the weather.
Methods. A literature search from 1985 to April 2003 was performed using the PubMed database of the US National Library of Medicine. Additional relevant articles were identified from the bibliographies, and from our own archives. Methods and findings of the studies were critically reviewed.
Results. Only temperature and humidity appear to have clear influences on the symptoms of RA, although the reported findings do not agree. In many cases, the apparent controversies can be explained by the intimate relationship between temperature and humidity, and by taking local circumstances into account. The differences in the methods applied in studies on effects of weather on RA strongly hampered our evaluation.
Conclusion. RA variables are positively correlated with the humidity of the microclimate at the patient's skin. High outdoor relative humidity is unfavorable, but has less influence when there are few barriers for water vapor, like clothes, and when air conditioning is used. High temperature is unfavorable since it increases absolute humidity, but beneficial as well, since it reduces the presence of barriers, and stimulates the use of air conditioning. The classic opinion, "Cold and wet is bad, warm and dry is good for RA patients," seems to be true only as far as humidity is concerned. (J Rheumatol 2004;31:1327-34)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who swear they can predict the weather by the pain in their arthritic knees may be right after all, a new study suggests.
Using data from a study of U.S. adults with knee arthritis, researchers found that in general, patients' pain flare-ups correlated with changes in temperature and barometric pressure.
The findings are published in the American Journal of Medicine.
While many arthritis sufferers feel the weather affects their pain — some say their pain increases when it's cold or when it rains, for instance — scientific evidence of the phenomenon has been hard to find.
One problem is that, given many people's strong convictions about the effects of weather on their pain, it's difficult to get unbiased reports of pain flare-ups.
To get around this problem, researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston used data from an earlier study that investigated glucosamine for knee arthritis.
The 200 adults in that study reported on their pain levels at several points over three months. The Tufts researchers took that data and compared it with meteorological information obtained from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration on the same days in each patient's local area.
Overall, they found, patients' pain tended to worsen when the temperature dropped or when the barometric pressure increased.
"Our data corroborate the general assertions by people with osteoarthritis that weather conditions influence their pain," Dr. Tim McAlindon and his colleagues report.
Even the 19th century notion that arthritis sufferers fare better in climates that are warm and sunny year-round may be "partly correct," the researchers write.
It's not fully clear why temperature and barometric pressure might influence arthritis pain. Cold temperatures may, for instance, affect joint range of motion, or the flow of the synovial fluid that lubricates the joints, McAlindon's team suggests.
Barometric pressure refers to the weight of the surrounding air, and it fluctuates with changes in altitude or weather. Some research, McAlindon and his colleagues note, suggests that atmospheric pressure plays a role in the stabilization of the body's joints.
SOURCE: American Journal of Medicine, May 2007.
References :