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NEWSLETTER EDITION 30
Joint Pain in the Cold: Three Theories Behind Winter Joint Pain
It’s that time of the year when the temperature drops. If you’re an active person you know that this is also the time nagging aches and pains resurface. You’ll feel these unpleasant and sometimes unbearable sensations around your joints.
If you’re familiar with cold weather joint pain, you’re not alone!
According to the (CDC), about 23% of Americans have arthritis. This means around 58 million people stock up on knee wraps and Tylenol for the winter.
We can always blame the weather, but what is it about the cold that causes joint pain to flare up?
According to WebMD, cold weather creates the dreaded pain and stiffness around your joints by:
- Affecting your sensitivity to pain
- Causing muscle spasms
- Causing the tissues around the joints to expand and the synovial fluid to thicken
Cold Weather and Pain Sensitivity
The nervous system — particularly the nerve endings — is essential to the perception of sensations. The nerve endings are responsible for taking sensations like temperature and pain felt on the skin and transporting them through the body as electrical signals. These electrical signals make their way to the brain where they are either processed as pain or pleasure.
As the temperature drops, the cold stimulates the nerve endings. Because the sensation is of the air and not pressure, a different signal goes to the brain. In a 2020 study, cold — particularly extreme cold — has been shown to elicit a sensation that is identical to pain.
By default, the cold is not the cause of actual pain. However, the study above suggests that you’ll perceive cold temperatures as pain when the cold becomes “too cold.”
Cold Weather Joint Pain as a Result of Muscle Spasms
Other than increasing your pain sensitivity, the cold also affects your muscles. Muscle spasms occur more frequently during the colder times of the year.
One of the ways your body tries to maintain its temperature is by muscle contraction. In other words, when the temperature drops, your muscles will be activated – this is why you shiver!
For some people, shivering hardly leads to pain. However, for anyone suffering from arthritis, spinal cord injury, and other neuromotor issues, prolonged shivering causes spasms.
When the muscles spasm or “freeze up,” the pain can be unbearable, often resembling a cramp. During muscle spasms, the joints that spastic muscles surround can be painful and stiff.
Stiffness is common on the nearby muscles of small joints like the fingers and toes. Muscle spasms in the quadriceps from the cold also lead to stiffness and pain in weight-bearing joints. Examples of weight-bearing joints are ankles and hips.
Tissue Expansion and Joint Pain in the Cold
Lastly, another theory that accounts for the pain you feel in your joints during the winter involves tissue expansion. According to the University of Chicago Medical Center, cold temperatures have a way of affecting air pressure. This is important because of how tissues around your joints respond to changes in pressure.
Decreases in air pressure can cause the tissues around the joints to expand and create restriction in the joints. The muscles constrict in colder weather and are more prone to dehydration, cramping and spasm, which is why warm-up sessions are so important in lower temperatures.
As the joints expand, they press on the pain receptors close to the skin. The pressure on the pain receptors causes pain in the area where the joint is. Most of the time, the pain radiates or spreads to nearby areas, making simple tasks like walking or gripping problematic.
In general, people are less active in colder weather, drink less water and spend more time indoors, which results in muscle aches.
Can Anything Be Done about Winter Joint Pain?
Yes! Here are some simple tips to manage your flare-ups:
Hydrate
Drink plenty of water. The National Academy of Sciences says 15 cups/day for men and 11 cups/day for women, but listen to your bodies. If you are going to the bathroom more often than usual, you may be hydrating enough. But if you are feeling dehydrated – lips chapped, skin cracking – you are not drinking enough.
Exercise
Moving helps to lubricate the joints. If there is a build up of fluid, this also is a way to bring the fluids back into the circulatory system so swelling decreases.
Warmth and Compression
During the cold months, it’s important to stay warm. Not only should you be dressing in warm layers, but sometimes compressive clothing can be helpful as well. Compression will be helpful on the weight-bearing joints (areas like ankles)
Protect Your Joints
- Avoid positions that strain your joints
- Use your strongest joints and muscles while sparing weaker ones
Manage Winter Joint Pain with Physical Therapy
The cold weather can cause your joints to hurt unbearably. If the tips above do little to help, there is another solution.
Physical therapy can help alleviate pain, whatever the cause. With therapy, your joints can regain their health and natural range of motion.
Click here to contact us now and give winter joint pain the cold shoulder. We can discuss your issues and how we can help.
To Your Health,
Cynthia
P.S. If you are still not 100%, give us a call at 301-493-9257 to set up a time to discuss the health issues you are having and how we can help you.
