Weather pains
Weather pains, weather-related pain, or meteoropathy is a phenomenon that occurs when people with conditions such as
Historic beliefs
A hypothetical relationship between changes in weather and pain has been documented since the classical Roman age, with Hippocrates in about 400 B.C. perhaps being the first to claim a connection. Anecdotal evidence provided by people such as Monica Seles and widely used expressions such as "aches and pain, coming rains", "feeling under the weather", and "ill health due to evil winds" reinforce the popular opinion that this effect is real,[5] despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting this contention.
Scientific evaluation
The first publication to document a change in pain perception associated with the weather was the American Journal of the Medical Sciences in 1887. This involved a single case report describing a person with phantom limb pain, and it concluded that "approaching storms, dropping barometric pressure and rain were associated with increased pain complaint."[6]
Most investigations examining the relationship between weather and pain have studied people diagnosed with
Countering the 1929 barometric pressure claim, in a 2016 article entitled "Do Your Aches, Pains Predict Rain?" professor of atmospheric sciences Dennis Driscoll is reported as stating: "People need to realize that the pressure changes associated with storms are rather small." Driscoll observes that the changes associated with a storm are about equivalent to what a person experiences in going up an elevator in a tall building. So far, there have not been many reports of people with arthritis hobbled by elevator rides in the medical literature.[2]
A study published in the
Data on millions of outpatient visits of older Americans linked to data on daily rainfall showed no relation between rainfall and outpatient visits for joint or back pain... This was the case both among the older overall population and among patients with rheumatoid arthritis in particular.[8]
According to the
External links
See also
- Climatotherapy – medical practice
References
- S2CID 2425636.
- ^ a b Nazario, Brunilda. "Do Your Aches, Pains Predict Rain?". Medicinenet.com. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ a b Swanson, Jerry W. "Can weather changes trigger migraines?". mayoclinic.org. Mayo Clinic. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Headache triggers". nhs.uk. NHS. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
We reveal 10 headache triggers and how to fix them..
- ^ Robert N. Jamison, PhD, Influence of Weather on Report of Pain (PDF), International Association for the Study of Pain Newsletter
- ^ S2CID 22191504.
- ^ Meyers, Alyssa (20 December 2017). "The rain, it's plain, has no effect on pain". Bostonglobe.com. Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- PMID 29237605.
- PMID 36853848.