How Do Weather Patterns Worsen Pain?

You’ve heard of people who say they can predict the weather based on certain pains in their bodies. Maybe you’re one of those people. The effect of weather patterns on pain has been documented for thousands of years.

The most commonly reported cause and effect usually involve increasing barometric pressure on joint pain. Many people visit their chiropractors in Solana Beach when the weather gets bad. This helps counteract how they feel during in-climate weather.

What Pain Is

Pain is what we perceive when the brain responds to messages from the body’s nerves that something is changing that could be dangerous.

The cause could be as simple as pressure on certain tissues, or it could be a result of damage taking place. It can even result from the threat of damage taking place. Back in 1968, a nurse named Margo McCaffery changed medical history by declaring that pain is “whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever and wherever the person says that it does.”

As her legacy of work continues, the way that practitioners treat pain continues to change. As it should.

What Weather Means To Your Body

Our bodies have evolved to adapt to change. Your heart can beat faster to circulate the blood when we need extra oxygen for movement or when we need extra heat when the temperature drops. Our skin generates perspiration to cool the body when it becomes overheated.

You may notice changes in your appetite and thirst depending on the weather. There’s more to this, though. Studies definitely show that weather patterns affect emotions.

Although some people feel it more than others, outside light and moderate warmth generally have a positive effect on mood and activity, while prolonged periods of darkness and cold often produce the opposite effect.

Emotions and Pain

It’s also been scientifically shown that emotions affect pain, described by this article from WebMD.

Humans as well as animals seem to naturally offer comfort when another of their species experiencing pain. Sometimes anxiety by itself can bring on physical pain. It follows that seeking emotional comfort from others is a universal way to ease the pain because it also involves trust, care, and protection.

Taking Care Of Your Body In All Kinds Of Weather

Maintaining a relationship with an experienced health expert who knows you and your body, whether a medical doctor, chiropractor, nurse practitioner, or provider of complementary and alternative medicine, establishes an ongoing sense of security because you know there is someone to turn to when you’re in pain.

Although friends and family can offer sympathy and day-to-day assistance, your professional healthcare team is able to explore the cause of your pain more deeply, perform diagnostic testing, teach you pain management techniques and preventive practices, and administer treatment or refer you to a specialist if necessary. Amazingly, pain levels are often decreased just by knowing that someone is available to help when needed.

You can’t change the weather but with help, you can change what it does to your body.