HOW TO DEAL WITH JOINT PAIN

The Weather and Your Joints

Some people check the news for the weather forecast. But for many people with arthritis and related joint pain, they already know when a storm is on the way.
Joint pain occurs from a variety of factors, one of the most common being arthritis, a broad term to describe the 100+ forms of chronic joint inflammation that can wear away at cartilage. Arthritis deteriorates this rubbery substance and its ability to absorb movement, until, in some people, it's completely worn down to the point that bones rub against each other.
And there's an interesting link between arthritis and the weather: many patients ? and the doctors who care for them ? report that joint pain and arthritis symptoms flare up before a storm or changes in the atmosphere.

What's the Link?

The idea that weather influences pain goes back at least 1,600 years, to Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, and probably earlier. The scientific term is 'human biometeorology', and there's a definitive link between the two in obvious scenarios; you'll get burnt if you leave your skin unprotected in the sun for example. There are few studies between arthritis and weather changes, however.

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