It is common to believe that there is a connection between weather patterns and pain. However, according to coverage by Medical News Today, a study published in July found that changes in the weather have no significant impact on lower back pain (LBP). The only weather adjustment that showed any relationship with heightened pain was accelerated wind speed, and that correlation was described as “clinically unimportant” by the study’s authors.
The report on the study, published in Arthritis Care & Research, analyzed Australians diagnosed with LBP. To determine how weather affects pain, the researchers assessed the following parameters in relationship to self-described pain ratings:
- barometric pressure
- wind direction
- precipitation
- temperature
- humidity.
Those five elements don’t seem to serve as triggers for back pain.
As indicated above, the only meteorological change that suggested any sort of connection with pain was strong winds, but that link was an uncompellingly “weak association.” Specifically, when the rate of wind rose 8 mph or when gusts of wind boosted 7 mph, the risk that pain would occur 24 hours afterward was slightly amplified.
Earlier data on weather-pain connection deemed unreliable
The team conducting the lower back pain research was looking for strong results that could outweigh previous findings thought to be based on low-quality scientific protocols. Earlier studies on how weather affects pain neglected to survey atmospheric factors in isolation from self-reporting of patient pain.
One study author, the University of Sydney’s Dr. Daniel Steffens, described the primary reliance of those earlier studies as “patient recall.” In other words, like many eyewitness accounts of crimes, the science on pain and weather has suffered from the vulnerabilities of human memory.
To make their approach more robust, the back pain researchers connected weather data to the time of pain onset. All weather data was provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
To render the study even more foolproof and convincing, none of those directly involved with the collection of back pain data – which included both the 993 subjects and the research assistants who recorded symptomatic information – were aware of the weather hypothesis. That information was concealed from all parties but the authors so that the reports would not be corrupted by notions that atmospheric conditions were influencing pain.
A spectrum of recovery options for lower back pain
The above study may help us to understand that pain should be considered independently from meteorology, but it does not guide those in pain toward viable solutions. At the Atlanta Medical Clinic, we focus passionately on nonsurgical treatments. One of our patients, Richard Johnson of Atlanta, reports: “The relief I’ve received and the caring is what I like most about coming to this office.” Get your free consultation today.