Buzz
Reader Jen reached out with a question: “Why do old injuries flare up when the weather turns bad?”
“My bones are aching. It’s probably about to rain.” - Every grandparent, everywhere.
The belief that specific aches and pains are connected to, or even forecasted by, the weather is widely held and has been around since ancient Greece.
A common explanation for the aches that arise with bad weather is that the decrease in barometric pressure during a storm leads to the expansion of soft tissue and fluids around joints, which in turn irritates nerves and causes discomfort, particularly at the site of an arthritic joint or old injury.
The scientific evidence supporting this phenomenon, which has been studied since the early 20th century, is inconclusive.
Some studies have found that changes in barometric pressure increase pain, others suggest it decreases it, and some show no correlation at all. The effects of temperature and relative humidity have also been researched, with similarly unclear results. (For more details on some of this research, see here and here).
A major challenge in studying this issue is that the swelling occurs on such a small scale that it’s difficult to detect and measure objectively, so researchers must rely on people’s subjective pain reports, which aren’t always reliable and are difficult to compare across individuals.
One study suggests that this phenomenon could be explained by psychological factors, like people perceiving patterns where none exist, and the influence of ideas such as “general plausibility and traditional popularity.” However, most research on the subject acknowledges the frequency of these reports, suggesting that it’s a phenomenon worth further study to uncover a solid explanation.
