I Respectfully Disagree…

Pain Medicine, June 2017, Osteoarthritis Cartilage,

2016,

Arthritis Care and Research, December 2014,

British Medical Journal, December 2017 What you see above are Journals and their respective dates of issue. They are respected publications in their fields and you can tell by their names they all publish articles relating to health, with a few of them dealing with pain and arthritis. These studies were similar in what they were trying to find out. They were looking at whether there was any truth to pain being caused by certain weather conditions. For decades, if not centuries, many of those who suffer from arthritis, back pain or even headaches swear that their pain is worse when the weather turns bad or is about to change. For some it is cooler weather, for others it is damper, more humid conditions that they say cause their pain to worsen. Some suffer more when the barometric pressure changes and can even “predict” a change in weather with their achy joints.

I read these studies published in these issues, in these highly respected journals, and have come to my own conclusions regarding their research. To put it nicely, I think they’re a load of bunk!

The researchers in these studies have concluded that there is no causal relationship between the weather and joint or back pain. A load of bunk. December Being in chiropractic practice for

25 years I have seen the opposite. On days with certain types of weather, or if weather is to worsen in a few days, I see more patients complaining that their arthritis is acting up, or that they feel “achy all over”.

A few days ago, it was “I have a headache” in my office. It was a day of moderately intense wind. Patients (including myself) reported waking up with pressure in there sinuses and a tight band around their head.

Many doctors, chiropractors and massage therapists hear stories like these from pain sufferers on a regular basis. While these are just anecdotal, there has to be some value put on these stories as compared to trusted medical journals. While the the findings of these studies contradict what anecdotal evidence shows, is there really any value in doing more studies to prove or disprove this relationship? It’s not like there is a drug company looking to create a new medication for barometrically challenged people. Maybe retirement communities in certain climates would use the research findings as a marketing tool to attract arthritis sufferers.

Those of you who suffer the winds of change, I wish I had a solution that did not involve a change of venue. Just know that you are not crazy, even though medical research may say otherwise.