Arthritis does get worse on damp days

SCIENTISTS have found pain really does get worse on damp, dismal days, confirming what arthritis sufferers have long suspected.

Manchester University researchers recruited more than 13,000 sufferers from all 124 postcodes and asked them to record their levels of distress on a daily basis.

They then mapped the results to weather readings and found pain became 20 per cent worse when the weather was humid and windy with low atmospheric pressure.

Prof Will Dixon, from Manchester’s Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, said: “Around three quarters of people living with arthritis believe their pain is affected by the weather.

“This study could be important for patients in the future for two reasons. Given we can forecast the weather, it may be possible to develop a pain forecast knowing the relationship between weather and pain.

“This would allow people who suffer from chronic pain to plan their activities, completing harder tasks on days predicted to have lower levels of pain. The dataset will also provide information to scientists interested in understanding the pain mechanism and could open the door to new treatments.”

The belief that aching joints get worse in bad weather has endured over the centuries and well into the present, fuelled by a combination of folklore and small studies that have repeatedly yielded mixed results. But in 2017, a study of 12million people by Harvard found no link between rainfall and aching joints and the issue appeared to have been settled.

The latest study also found no link to rain or temperature and pain, but found damp and windy days made people feel much worse. Low pressure and higher wind speed were also linked to more painful days, although to a lesser extent than humidity.

Dr Stephen Simpson, the centre’s director of research, said: “Supporting effective ways of self-managing pain can make all the difference.”