Column: Can bones and joints predict weather?

Frank Grispino MOT, OTR/L, CHT

A lot of people claim their aches and pains can accurately predict the weather. Can this be true? Yes, it can absolutely be true. This is especially true with people that have arthritis or somewhat recent fractures. What’s happening is your body is sensing changes in barometric pressure. The barometric pressure changes are associated with weather changes. The term to describe this phenomenon is “weather ache.” This is how it works.

There are two main components that can contribute to weather ache. The first one is caused by the presence of receptors around joints that sense pressure. Normally, these receptors provide input as to what the joint is doing and where it is in space. This lets us walk, run, jump and move with purpose by knowing, without looking, what our limbs and joints are doing.

Changes in barometric pressure can also stimulate these nerve receptors. With arthritis, you have inflammation in your joints caused by the loss of cartilage that normally pads and lubricates the ends of the bones in a joint. When moving an arthritic joint, the bone grinds on bone instead of a nice, slick and padded cushion normally provided by the cartilage. This causes inflammation. The presence of inflammation, as found with arthritis, can cause these receptors to relay a sense of pain in certain conditions. In the case of weather ache, the changing barometric pressure associated with a weather front approaching is the culprit.

The second potential cause of weather ache is caused by a very interesting process involved in the healing of a broken bone. If you look inside of a bone, it appears to be made up of a structure that resembles lattice. Bone is in a constant state of remodeling this lattice structure.

Special cells bore tunnels through existing lattice and form new lattice as they travel, leaving tunnels behind. The process helps our bodies adapt to physical demands and have stronger bones when and where we need them.

You can think of the new bone tunnels being formed by these specialized cells as miniature barometers. When a fracture is healing, there is inflammation. It’s needed and part of the healing process. The problem arises when these miniature bone tunnel barometers are in and around the site of inflamed bone healing. Instead of looking at a machine that tells you what the barometric pressure is, these just let you know the pressure is changing with a sense of pain or ache.

Weather ache isn’t guaranteed. If you have it from a healing fracture, it will usually subside in a year or two, as the fracture completely heals. If the cause is arthritis, it can last forever and vary in intensity depending on what is going on inside the arthritic joint. A joint replacement or surgically cleaning out the diseased tissue from the joint can sometimes minimize or fix the ache associated with weather changes.

I’ve experienced weather ache in both knees and both elbows. The knees were fixed when I had both knees replaced. The elbows were fixed by surgically removing the arthritic parts of the joint and time for everything to “cool down” with regards to inflammation. I tracked pressure hourly when feeling pain and I confirmed what I had been taught about weather ache. I am from Missouri, after all. I needed to be “shown it.”

If you are also one of the “I can predict the weather with my pain” club, know that the pain is usually short-lived and associated with changes in barometric pressure. Amaze your friends and relatives with your uncanny accuracy of predicting a change in the weather. Then put some ice on the sore area and hope for sunny weather.

Frank Grispino is an occupational therapist/ certified hand therapist and clinic director of ARC PT+ in Maryville, Mo.