I would say the majority of my patients experience an increase in pain when the weather is rainy and cold. Patients who suffer from arthritic conditions are famous for experiencing increased pain when the weather turns, sometimes you can use them as weather forecasters as they seem to know a storm is coming before the meteorologists do. The scientific data is inconclusive when it comes to weather change and chronic pain, generally it is considered irrelevant to an individual’s condition, even those with arthritis. So is this phenomenon simply a giant placebo effect?
I find it hard to believe that all of my patients have succumbed to an urban legend and have real effects from this group hypnosis. Chinese medicine suggests there is a direct relationship between weather patterns and our health. I don’t think it’s an incredible leap to suggest we are affected by our environment, we have conditions such as SAD(seasonal affective disorder) which are known to be caused by the shorter winter days and lack of exposure to sunlight. We know that being too hot or too cold has direct effects on our body with conditions such as hypothermia or heat stroke. So why wouldn’t we be affected by the rain?
Chinese medical theory suggests that excessive moisture in our environment creates a condition knows as “dampness” in the body. The idea is that because we are composed primarily of water we are susceptible to moisture changes in our environment. When it is excessively damp or rainy for periods of time, we essentially become water-logged and our body systems slow down and become stagnated. Circulation is slowed causing this stagnation which leads to increased pain and stiffness. Combine this with cold and you have the ingredients for some serious pain.
Other theories suggest we are susceptible to the change in barometric pressure which occurs when we have changing weather patterns, particularly approaching storm fronts. The sharp change in barometric pressure causes an imbalance with our internal pressure and this transition can exacerbate painful syndromes. I’m not sure what the cause is entirely, but I do know that the weather has an effect on all of us and it’s not just in our heads…
