Cold, windy weather seen to worsen chronic pain in UK study
The UK has nearly 10 million countrymen suffering from arthritis and many others with chronic ailments that cause disruptive pain. The UK is also regularly subject to damp, windy weather which, a new study suggests, could significantly worsen pain for most of these people.
Professor Will Dixon, Director of the Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, at the UK’s University of Manchester, said that many living with arthritis believe their pain is affected by the weather – this belief has persisted since long ago.
It is again apparent in a recent6-month study data, obtained daily from some 2,650 English participants, that their most painful days appeared to be muggy, windy and cold. While there was no association between actual rainfall and pain, pain was amplified on cold days with low pressure, by at least 20%. This was observed in predominantly arthritic participants, who used a specially-designed smartphone app to report their pain levels and track the weather in their area with the phone’s GPS.
Dixon opines that the study’s findings could lead to pain forecasts alongside air quality projections, for those with chronic pain to “better plan their activities and complete harder tasks on days predicted to have lower levels of pain.”
