Imagine this: you’re sitting around the dinner table on Christmas Eve and your great aunt starts to talk about how her arthritic knee has started to bother her as the weather has gotten colder. Some of your family members may brush her off saying that there is no link between weather and joint pain, others may give her a sympathetic nod.
As far as scientific health is concerned, your great aunt is right – there is a link between colder weather, specifically the barometric pressure, and increased arthritis pain.
James Fant, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of rheumatology at the University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine said in a recent article that there appears to be a definite connection.
“It’s one of the most common questions that patients will ask,” Dr. Fant said. “At first I doubted because there was not a lot of scientific evidence to support the correlation between arthritic symptoms and the weather. But, I’ve been practicing for nearly 20 years and I’ve heard it so often from so many patients that I know there is something to it.”
What can one do to relieve arthritic pain, particularly in the colder months? A good first step would be to speak with your rheumatologist to see if there is anything new that may be causing the pain. A second step would be to make sure you’re warming up before beginning any exercise. If you’re still feeling the pain try heat therapy with an analgesic or a heat pack to help loosen stiff joints. We would recommend using ColdSpot™ topical analgesic or one of our Relief Pak® moist heat packs.
Click here to read the full interview with Dr. Fant.