People With Joint Pain Can Really Forecast Storms | Arthritis Information

ScienceDaily (June 3, 2008) — The summer brings many thunderstorms to the east coast of the United States, and one of the nation’s leading joint specialists, Javad Parvizi, M.D., Ph.D., of the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, says you should believe your grandmother, friend or co-worker when they tell you it’s going to rain—even if it’s simply because their aching knees, hips, hands or shoulders “say so.”

Dr. Parvizi, who is also director of clinical research at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson, and associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, explains that even though individuals can experience pain fluctuations with the slightest change in barometric pressure, most patients report significant increases in pain before and during severe changes in weather, like summer downpours and thunderstorms.

“The phenomenon of people being able to forecast precipitation, especially rain, due to the level of their joint pain is real,” says Dr. Parvizi. “It is not in the patient’s head. There is science to back it up.”

Weather-related joint pain is typically seen in patients with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other arthritic conditions. It can affect any load-bearing joint, but is most common in hips, knees, elbows, shoulders and hands. The joints contain sensory nerves called baro-receptors which respond to changes in atmospheric pressure. These receptors especially react when there is low barometric pressure, meaning the atmosphere has gone from dry to moist, like when it is going to rain.

“When pressure in the environment changes, we know that the amount of fluid in the joint or the pressure inside the joint fluctuates with it,” says Dr. Parvizi. “Individuals with arthritic joints feel these changes much more because they have less cartilage to provide cushioning.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080530174619.htmLets hope that they take this in to consideration when testing people for pain thresholds.

I have a question? How many people on this forum have sleep issues. I certainly do. Sometimes I sleep way to much. Other times my sleep is interupted by pain or medicine. I usually get enough sleep. Just it is not always the times I would prefer it to be.

Lately I feel like I need too much sleep. I sleep for 1/2 hr on my lunch hr. At night I nap from about 8 to 9-9:30 PM. Then I get up because I have to stay up til 11 when my son is required to bring down his lap top and cell. I really feel like I could sleep thru the night at 8 but I also have things I have to take care of when I wake up and stay up til 11. I get up at 6 AM on weekdays for work.

I'm also noticing I am waking on and off during the night and my hands and shoulders feel extra painful. When I get up in the morning they are not as painful as they were in the middle of the night.

I really don't notice myself feeling more joint pain because of the weather tho. The only thing that bothers me is damp, raw, cold weather. It doesn't cause pain- it just feels like it permeates my bones and I feel very uncomfortable. On the other hand when I bask in summer sunshine my bones feel good.

My knee knows when rain is coming....

I'm one of the lucky ones who drops off into a deep sleep the minute my head hits the pillow. I stay asleep for at least 6 full hours. I also notice that when I'm in flare mode I tend to fall off for a short nap [20 minutes?] around 6PM.

Well I did notice the barometric pressure last week. We had a very low barometric pressure and three inches of rain came. I had trouble sleeping the few days before the rain. Once it got here I slept like a baby. It is my big toe that hates it. My Mom had an old healed broken foot that flares up.

Well then I thought that I had a bad Sjorgrens flare. Stayed sleeping for days. So tired had a dry throat. Well it is strep. I guess it could be both. Maybe the dry throat was a good place for the strep to set in?

I am sure that the low barometric pressure is what kept me from pieceful sleep for a few days and wore down my system. I do not always notice it. Just when it is super low barometric pressure.