Does the Weather Really Influence Episodes of Pain?

A recent study found that humidity, wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, and air pressure, which were previously considered to potentially increase the risk for lower back pain episodes, do not influence musculoskeletal pain.
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Researchers performed a case-crossover study at primary clinics in Sydney, Australia on participants who had a new episode of acute lower back pain. Weather parameters were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and the odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by comparing the average of the weather variable for the day prior to the lower back pain episode, and the change in weather variable from 1 to 2 days prior to pain onset, and measured with controlled weather variables collected from 1 week and 1 month before the case.

Their results showed that precipitation, humidity, wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, and air pressure did not influence the onset of acute lower back pain episodes, and only 1 out of 4 analyses showed that higher temperature increased the odds for a pain episode.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Beilken K, Hancock MJ, Maher CG, Li Q, and Steffens D. Acute low back pain? Do not blame the weather—a case-crossover study [published online before print December 15, 2016]. Pain Medicine. doi:10.1093/pm/pnw126.