If you have arthritis, you may have noticed that the weather affects your symptoms. I hear it from my patients all the time, says Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health.
If it’s true that the weather can worsen arthritis pain, how does that work? Is there any scientific evidence to explain it? People have been asking these questions for many years without finding good answers. But that’s not keeping researchers from trying to understand it better.
What we (think we) know
Past studies examining the effect of rain, humidity, and other weather-related factors on symptoms of arthritis have been inconclusive, and in some cases, contradictory. Some suggest that the key variable is rising barometric pressure. Other studies found just the opposite — that falling pressure could provoke joint pain or stiffness. There have even been attempts to artificially vary environmental conditions to mimic weather changes, such as placing arthritis sufferers in barometric chambers and varying the pressure up and down.
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