Do you ever feel like you can predict the weather forecast? This is not at all uncommon! Cold, and even rainy, weather can cause great sensitivity and pain to an injured joint, and we can often tell the bad weather’s coming a day or two in advance. And when it’s cold as it’s been, our bodies often ache and ache!
Let me explain: When I was injured last year I broke my knee and my ankle, and tore my quad tendon; it’s not completely healed yet so often I feel as though I can predict when the weather will get cold or rainy, and my predictions are usually correct! I call this my “Accu-Knee Weather Forecast,” and unfortunately, too many of us have that ability.
And, as you know, it’s hardly a “Super Power” we want to be blessed with. The technical term for it is Cold Allodynia. Put simply, the cold weather can cause us to shiver (actually, to build up warmth in our body by vibrating our muscles). The muscles go into spasm, and where they’re surrounding an injured joint, it often irritates the nerve endings, which are already extremely sensitive to the cold. When it rains, the barometric pressure rises in the atmosphere. Your body is made up of 70-80% water, so guess what? When the pressure rises in the outside atmosphere, it rises inside your body, too, causing your poor, already-inflamed injured joints to hurt.
So, what do we do about this? Well, keeping warm is obviously a good stop-gap, but it isn’t much of a solution. It’s best to “fix” the injured joint the best we can. Bring your hurting body into the Chiropractor’s office and let’s see what we can do to give you some immediate relief, and hopefully over time even permanent, relief. Of course, you run the risk of losing your weather-predicting ability! But, don’t be too concerned about that; there’s always The Weather Channel! Call Dr. Bob Rush today at (215) 677-2225, and enjoy the rest of this cold, cold Winter!
