I Can Feel it In My Bones!: Validating an Old Wives' Tale

(Meme)

"Watch out tomorrow, it sure feels like it's going to rain!" I would always hear my Grandmother state this whenever she "felt" a storm coming on. I asked her why one day and she told me this long story about how her joints were achy from getting old and she "just knew". I never really knew if I should believe that or not! I mean it sounds crazy right? Being able to predict weather patterns by a spike of pain or discomfort in a bad joint? Well, it just so happens that maybe she was right all along. I personally started to notice some weird stuff happening during my sophomore year of high school. Nothing to do with storms at first but my knees began to ache and throb a lot more during workouts or shortly after. The next year, one day in particular, I had noticed my knees were just killing me! I really didn't know why because this had never really happened before, and this was at the beginning of summer. I wasn't currently playing any sports and I just couldn't figure out why my knees were so achy. The next day a large thunderstorm rolled in and it rained all day long. Had my body just predicted the weather change?! Is this really a thing? And why me?!

Throughout this post I will be exploring what causes this phenomenon to happen, to whom, and whether or not this can be fixed. Because honestly, who really wants to be able to predict weather if it means that you will suffer from some type of pain just before it happens? If you do, and don't already have the "ability" I would gladly trade you if it were possible.

Upon beginning my research I found many people complaining of this issue. Seems like I'm not the only one, so that's a good sign. I personally was looking for the type of solid research that can only be done in controlled environments, with tests like this results are much less susceptible to perception of one person. I actually came across two articles that were published by the same group of researchers from Japan. The first study was conducted using lab rats. The researchers used a set of control rats who had saline injected into the joint of one of their rear paws, and a set of test rats injected with a synthetic solution designed to induce pain similar to that given by arthritis. The goal of this was to observe the rats in a highly controlled environment to see how their behavior associated with pain in the specific paw was affected by barometric pressure and temperature changes. Ultimately they came to a conclusion, "These results show that lowering barometric pressure and ambient temperature within the range of natural environmental fluctuation intensify pain in arthritic rats" (Sato Artificially 46). In the researchers' second article they used the same type of control methods while exposing the animals to barometric pressure changes. This time however they were using a group of guinea pigs that had been induced with a spinal injury just above, and affecting, their rear paw. With this study they then concluded, "These results indicate that fluctuations in LP within the range of natural weather patterns can potentiate neuropathic pain in guinea pigs." (LP stands for low barometric pressure) (Sato Low 152.) Both of these studies were conducted on the basis of total control on the environment to come out with clear results, and they both state that the animals were affected by the weather changes! Seems like some solid evidence, but what about humans? How are we affected? Does this effect cross over to us, and if so is it different? Not to worry I've looked into a bit of that as well.

Within the International Orthopedics journal a separate group of researchers published a clinical study that included just over 50 patients affected by hip osteoarthritis. Over the course of a month they had each patient fill out a small survey that allows them to judge their pain on a scale of 0-10. At the end of the study they conclude, "This data supports the belief held by many osteoarthritic patients that changing weather patterns influence their pain severity" (Brennan 643). So this article has a similar conclusion to that of the controlled lab studies, the researchers did found a connection to weather patterns and the association of reported pain spikes. This is good, multiple sources that are all stating this is a real thing with research and proof! With this I only have a few questions left that need answered. Is there a theory as to what really causes this? Not just barometric pressure or temperature, based on the research we know those the attributing factors, but what happens inside the body that makes this pain real?

There seems to be a couple theories running around in the ether on what is the cause. The most common one that I've seen, and it makes logical sense to me, is a greatly depicted theory by Katherine Kam in her article Does Weather Affect Joint Pain? Quickly summarized, when the external barometric pressure lowers, the internal pressure of your joints is no longer at equilibrium so it pushes outwards, which is more noticeable to people with chronic pain due to sensitive nerves. (2). Makes sense right? We're able to "predict" the weather change because often times storms bring in low pressure systems and or colder weather that affect the expanding of our joints, and only people with previous injury or chronic pain notice because of highly sensitized nerves. Cool. But still, is there any way I can minimize this? Or am I just stuck crying about my knees every time a storm rolls in?

(Lundeen)

Unfortunately from what I've found there is nothing really permanent that can fix this issue. There are however some things that can be done to minimize the pain and suffering which Katherine goes over in her article as well.

1. Stay warm (3)
By keeping joints or affected injured areas warm and covered you can minimize expansion and hopefully pain.
2. Control swelling (4)
Along the lines of keeping warm you're going to want to minimize the expansion of painful joints. This can be done using things like knee braces or spandex gloves. Which can also insulate and help keep them warm too!
3. Keep moving (4)
Before going out for the day make sure to get those joints moving! This helps with minimizing the stiffness associated with cold and arthritic situations.

Hopefully this answered some of your questions about this old wives' tale, and possibly bettered your life if you're affected. This has certainly helped me personally to research this topic. Overall I feel much more enlightened on the subject and can now talk about it in a less speculative way. I also no longer feel slightly insane when I start to complain about my knees due to the storm that come rolling in! Lastly I found it very helpful that there are some things that I can do to help calm this down.
      
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Works Cited

Brennan, Stephen, et al. "Influence Of Weather Variables On Pain Severity In End-Stage Osteoarthritis." International Orthopaedics 36.3 (2012): 643-646. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Kam, Katherine "Does Weather Affect Joint Pain?" Webmd.com. Web. 19 Oct 2015.

Lundeen, Greg Chaparral Supercell. Photograph. "Thunderstorm." Wikipedia.org. Web. 19 Oct. 2015

"Meme Generator." Imgflip.com. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Sato, Jun, et al. "Artificially Produced Meteorological Changes Aggravate Pain In Adjuvant-Induced Arthritic Rats."Neuroscience Letters 354.1 (2004): 46-49. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.


Sato, Jun, et al. "Low Barometric Pressure Aggravates Neuropathic Pain In Guinea Pigs." Neuroscience Letters503.2 (2011): 152-156. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.