Research Weather sensitivity This is how bad weather affects our pain

So-called weather-sensitive people really have pain from bad weather?
Surely you have heard that especially elderly people suffer from pain in wet weather. Many people think that such pain is a kind of old wives' tale. However, researchers now found that these weather-dependent pains do indeed exist.

Researchers at the University of Manchester found in an investigation that bad weather can affect people with chronic pain. Affected suffer in cold and humid weather under more severe pain. The doctors published a press release on the results of the study. The study was presented at the British Science Festival in Swansea.

How does bad weather affect chronic pain? Scientists are now trying to find out if bad or cold weather can really increase our chronic pain. (Image: Lunja / fotolia.com)

Weather-related pain affects women more often
The early results of the large-scale study show that people with chronic pain experience less pain when the weather warms between February and April, the authors say. Thus, so-called weather-dependent pain is not an invention of mostly older people. Some time ago, a survey also showed that weather related problems are more likely to affect female persons.

Cold weather affects our health more than hot weather
The weather can certainly affect our health, explain the doctors. For example, it is known that cold weather is more critical to health than hot weather. In addition, the weather also affects diseases such as migraine. Physicians had shown that bad weather can cause people a headache.

9,000 subjects recorded their daily pain
Researchers from the University of Manchester analyzed the data from about 9,000 people with chronic pain for their study. The subjects suffered from health problems such as arthritis, back problems and migraine, explain the researchers. Participants logged their symptoms daily via a smartphone app.

Pain is on the decline from February to April
As the number of summer days increases from February to April, it reduces the time it takes for severe pain to occur, say the experts. The level of pain will increase again in June. At this time, the weather is usually humid but also warmer. The study was conducted on people in three different cities in the United Kingdom. These three cities were Leeds, Norwich and London, the scientists add.

Study investigates for the first time the effects of weather on chronic pain
We've heard anecdotal evidence for a long time that people with chronic illness suffer from severe pain in bad weather, says Professor Will Dixon, project manager at the University of Manchester. Concerned individuals also often stated that they could predict the weather due to this increasing pain. Surprisingly, there has never been a real investigation into the intensification of weather-related pain from cold or bad weather. In the UK alone, around 28 million people suffer from some form of chronic pain, the authors add.

Joint pain does not get worse in the cold
The early results of the new study are encouraging. I think that there is definitely a possible link between the weather and chronic pain, says Professor Dixon. The results of our research also refuted another widely used hypothesis, the expert continued. This is about the belief that joint pain gets worse the colder the weather gets, explains the doctor. This is not the case.

Study is continued and new subjects are searched
Actually, the chronic pain intensifies again from April to June. However, the temperature usually rises during this period, experts say. Thus, the common hypothesis does not seem to make sense. Professor Dixon and his colleagues are looking for more subjects for their large-scale study. This study will continue to collect data on the relationship between bad weather and chronic pain until April 2017. (As)