Do you find your joints get sore when the temperatures cool off? Or you feel stiff before a storm rolls in? The idea that bad weather can cause or worsen aches and pains has been around for centuries. It’s widely believed that changes in barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity can make increase pain and stiffness in joints and muscles. But is there any truth to this belief, or is it just an old wives’ tale? And if so, how to we find relief?
In this article I’ll be exploring the idea that cold weather causes back pain (joint pain, etc) including scientific findings, as well as how pain perception, the placebo effect, and confirmation bias play a role. I’ll also share real client results in how to find relief from back pain caused by cold weather.
Does Cold Weather Causes Back Pain?
The belief that weather affects pain has actually been around for thousands of years. One theory of its origin is that Hippocrates, a Greek physician dating back 2000 years, blamed the weather for his aching joints. This idea persisted throughout history and to this day many people who suffer with chronic pain believe that the weather has an impact on their levels of pain – approximately 3 in 4 people living with arthritis believe their joint pain is worsened by the weather.
Some claim that cold weather, rain, and low atmospheric pressure is the culprit, while other claim it’s the warm weather and humidity. So what is it - does the weather cause our bodies to ache or is it a myth?
The Science behind Cold Weather and Back Pain
Despite the widespread belief that weather affects pain, scientific evidence paints a different picture. Many studies have been conducted to try to figure out whether there is a correlation between weather and pain, with conflicting and inconclusive results.
Some studies such as this one published in the National Library of Medicine which analyzed daily data from 2658 patients collected over a 15-month period concluded that there is a correlation between humidity and pain. Whereas studies such as this one published in Pain Medicine with nearly 1000 participants with back pain found no correlation between changes in weather and levels of back pain.
A quick google search will show these conflicting results with seemingly every other study claiming a different result. Perhaps there are more variables than just air pressure and humidity at play?
Pain Perception Plays a Part
Perhaps weather doesn’t directly affect arthritis or back pain, but instead, affects our perception of pain through indirect means. Variables such as mood, stress, sleep and movement are all known to influence pain perception – all of which cold, rainy weather can impact.
For example, cold, rainy days can cause an inclination to stay in, reducing social connection, bringing down our mood, and even causing us to be less active – all of which can impact pain perception.
Think about it, isn’t it easier to be optimistic and motivated on a bright sunny day? Our mood affects our behavior and our behavior can impact our pain. But wait, there’s more.
The Placebo Effects for Pain
The placebo effect may also play a role in perpetuating the belief that weather affects pain. The placebo effect is a phenomenon where the outcome of a medical treatment is highly impacted by the patients belief of whether the medical treatment will work.
There are countless studies proving the existence of the placebo effect, some of which has staggering results. The results from placebo treatments are so reliable that drugs may not be considered for the market if they don’t at least surpass the results from the placebo group.
In some cases, the placebo treatment was nearly as effective as the antidepressants they were studied against! That means the group that was taking sugar pills got nearly as much of a benefit as the group taking the antidepression medication.
Could the placebo effect come into play when it comes to pain surfacing on bad weather days? The bottom line is that if you believe that cold weather, rain, humidity, or atmospheric pressure will increase your pain, there’s a pretty good chance it will.
Not to mention, when people believe they’ll experience more pain during bad weather days, they may become more aware of their pain and perceive it as being worse than it actually is. In other words, the expectation of pain can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How Confirmation Bias Affects Pain
Confirmation bias is another psychological phenomenon that may contribute to the belief that weather affects pain. People tend to pay more attention to instances that confirm their beliefs and ignore instances that contradict them.
This can be witnessed in many areas of life, and it’s no different for pain. Those that believe – or anticipate – an increase in pain during cold or humid weather are more likely to notice their pain on bad weather days because it confirms their belief and ignore – or simply be less aware – of their pain on good weather days because it contradicts their belief.
Confirmation bias could contribute to the perception that pain is worse when the weather is cold and dreary and less intense on sunny days. But what is all of this telling us about the correlation between our thoughts and our pain?
Does this Indicate Neuroplastic Pain?
To understand what neuroplastic pain is, it's helpful to understand what pain really it. Pain is a danger signal sent from the body to the mind. There are tiny receptors all over your body that are constantly monitoring sensations. When they pick up on a sensation they send a signal to the brain, where the brain decides if that sensation is safe or dangerous.
If the brain decides the sensation is “safe, we might feel a neutral sensation, or perhaps we feel nothing at all. If the brain decides the sensation is dangerous, we feel pain which urges us to attend to the perceived danger.
For normal injuries, this process works very efficiently. However, when the brain starts to misinterpret those signals from the body, deciding that they are dangerous when they are actually safe, you start to experience pain without any structural injuries. We call this neuroplastic pain, or psychosomatic pain.
The body can misinterpret signals from the body for a few different reasons. It could be that your fear of the pain is causing your body to continue to send danger signals – this usually happens when you’ve had an injury which has healed but the pain persists.
It could be that your stress levels are high, which has caused your brain to start to interpret everything as threatening and dangerous – this is usually what happens when you wake up with mystery pains that didn’t originate from an injury, such as back pain, joint pain, nerve pain, etc.
Or it could be that your body has been operating in a stress response for the long term and has become hypervigilant to sensations in the body. This is usually the result of unresolved trauma, or ongoing stress without resolution such as stress from a demanding job, financial stress, family drama, etc. and can show up in the form of chronic conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, chronic migraines, etc.
When the brain misinterprets safe signals as dangerous, we experience pain, and that pain can become chronic when the brain continues to misinterpret signals for long periods of time. Could it be that pain from cold weather is actually neuroplastic pain in disguise? If so, what do we do?
Relief From Back Pain from Cold Weather (Real Client Results)
Wouldn’t you love to know that relief from pain caused from cold weather can be treated without drugs, a doctor visit, surgery, or anything else. That’s right, it’s possible to get relief from pain caused from cold weather by the time you are done reading this article.
How? Let me illustrate this with a real client experience. To maintain my clients privacy, I will refer to her as Jane.
Jane suffered from lower back pain, shoulder pain, amongst other mysterious aches and pains throughout her body. In our first session I asked her if there were any triggers that caused an increase in her pain, such as certain positions, movements, or tasks. This information becomes helpful in our Pain Reprocessing Therapy sessions.
Jane mentioned that among other movements and positions, the weather is a strong trigger for her shoulder and back pain. She assured me that when the weather gets cold or rainy, she experiences increased pain and discomfort.
After hearing this news, I politely began to inform Jane on the lack of conclusive evidence of the weather-pain correlation. I also discussed pain perception, confirmation bias and the placebo effect, much like I’ve done in this article.
Jane was taken aback at first, but after a few minutes, I could tell that the information I had just provided her had cracked that formally strong belief that weather could cause increase back pain. We didn’t discuss it again and proceeded with the session. By the end of the session, Jane was very optimistic about the idea that she could eliminate her back pain as it had completely vanished after just a few minutes of Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
It was two months later when I met with Jane for her second session. I asked how the last few months had been, and I she was delighted to inform me that her pain was much less frequent than before our first session, and that – to her amazement – the weather no longer triggered her pain.
I smiled as she discussed how our initial conversation had interrupted her belief that cold weather caused pain and after that session, the belief faded away completely. Because of this, weather no longer impacted her pain.
Your mind truly is the most powerful force in your life, and your belief really do impact your perception. For Jane, a shift in her long held belief resulted in a dramatic decrease in the frequency of her back pain.
Is My Pain Neuroplastic?
Do you suffer from chronic back pain? Are you curious to know if your pain can be healed with a mind-body approach? Find out with my Neuroplastic Pain Quiz. Enter your details below and I'll send it straight to your inbox.
With this detailed, 30 question quiz you'll discover if your pain is neuroplastic and therefore, can be healed with a mind-body approach.
Conclusion
While many people firmly believe that cold weather exacerbates back and joint pain, scientific evidence remains inconclusive. Factors such as pain perception, the placebo effect, and confirmation bias all play significant roles in how individuals experience pain during weather changes.
This suggests that our beliefs and psychological responses can greatly influence pain levels. As seen in the case of my client, Jane, challenging these ingrained beliefs, along with approaches like Pain Reprocessing Therapy, can lead to significant relief. Ultimately, the power of the mind should not be underestimated when it comes to managing pain, even that seemingly linked to the weather.
Learn more about Pain Reprocessing Therapy in this article, or contact me for an individualized approach to eliminating your pain.
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