Rheumatism has a reputation for being sensitive to weather variations. Wrongly, according to Australian researchers who observed no correlation.
A thunderstorm, a downpour, some barometric disturbances. People with rheumatism pride themselves on feeling the slightest weather variations. A widely shared idea … but false! An Australian team demonstrates this in two reviews published simultaneously. Contrary to popular belief, low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee are not affected by changes in the weather.
A thousand-year-old belief
The researchers from the George Institute for Global Health, who signed this work, recruited two groups of patients: 1,000 of them presented with low back pain, 350 of osteoarthritis of the knee. All of these volunteers reside in the land of the kangaroos, where the temperature varies from 5 to 33 ° C during the 3-month follow-up. The researchers did not assess the weather with a wet finger: they collected data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and cross-checked them with the questionnaires completed by the participants.
The objective is clear: to verify the validity of an ancient belief. “The idea that pain is linked to bad weather dates back to the Roman era,” says Professor Chris Maher. The error is therefore numbered in millennia. Because the conclusion of the two publications is unambiguous: the weather does not play any role in the symptoms associated with low back pain and osteoarthritis.
A matter of memory
Humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind direction, precipitation… absolutely no parameter has caught the authors’ attention. The temperature would have a slight impact on lower back pain, when the thermometer panics. But the result is not clinically significant.
So how do you explain this reputation? The answer may lie in our ability to memorize. “We remember the events that confirm our preconceived ideas,” says Chris Maher. Human beings are very sensitive, so it’s easy to see why we only become aware of pain when it’s cold or raining, forgetting the days when symptoms are present but the weather is nice and mild. “
These results will undoubtedly be enough to disappoint those in pain. Globally, at least a third of the population suffers from low back pain, and nearly one in five people have osteoarthritis.
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