305
When someone tells you that they feel worse in bad weather, they may well be correct in their causation. This is especially true for joint pain. Scientists from the University of Manchester have published the results of a new study that reveals a link between chronic pain and rainy, windy days with low atmospheric pressure.
Research results
More than 13 people took part in the study, who participated in the experiment every day for 000 months.
Participants were mostly people with arthritis, although some had other chronic pain related to fibromyalgia, migraines or neuropathy.
Scientists collected data using a smartphone app designed specifically for the study. Each participant used the app to report their pain levels daily, while the app recorded the weather in their area using the phone's GPS.
In the end, it turned out that the weather can worsen the pain if it is turbulent: the most painful days for the participants turned out to be wet, windy and cold.
The value of research
The researchers suggest the findings could lead meteorologists to provide pain forecasts alongside air quality forecasts, which could help people with chronic pain "plan their activities to perform more challenging tasks on days that will have lower levels of pain."
