I just had a question and was wondering if you could clarify. I don't know anything about how weather works, but I got confused about the part that says:
'According to Dr. McQuillan, arthritis patients feel an uncomfortable pressure in their joints on days of high humidity and low barometric pressure, especially just before a storm. A drier climate means a minimum of pressure."
It says people with arthritis hurt when there's low barometric pressure,and then says that a drier climate has a minimum of pressure. I feel like that would mean that drier climates have really low pressures. So wouldn't that sort of contradict the statement that dry climates help OA? Or are they talking about two different kinds of pressures?
To answer Caitlin's question, to my understanding, dry weather has less pressure. You can actually feel it in the weather with or without arthritis. I am from Michigan and believe me there is a lot of humidity in the air there throughout the year. On very humid days you can feel the pressure in the air. I actually get chronic head aches and on the extreme humid days the head aches really kick in. To my knowledge I do not have arthritis, but I can understand the effect the humidity versus the dry heat has on arthritis patients. But like it was mentioned in Sergio's post, everyone is different and different people react differently...
I just wanted to say that I found this article really interesting. Some of the myths mentioned are things I had heard growing up. I knew most of them were myths... but it was interesting to see them addressed here. The most interesting one to me is always the one about cracking knuckles. I think it is a nasty habit and the sound actually gives me the chills. I just find it funny how a large percent of the population is so misinformed about it, though so many people do it. It always cracks me up when I can correct people and be like "actually, it doesn't cause arthritis." My grandpa is firm believer it causes arthritis and every summer when I'm visiting the conversation comes up, and no matter how much proof, how many articles, and statements I lay in front of him, he still doesn't believe it to be a myth.
To follow up on this. Dry weather vs. Humid weather, I think pressure and weightwise think of water. Water is heavy and when the air is saturated your supporting that weight, I like to remember the column of air that goes all the way to space that is shown in physics courses for atm and pressure discussions. So moving to a different point, I think that heat itself has a paliative effect. Think of all the marketed heating pads and HotIcy products to dull away the pain. Therefore, the heat in our climate might be more beneficial than just the minor pressure difference. Also you might just be happier in a climate that is sunny 360 days a year. I'll stop there because I think this is just biased towards my love for the Sonoran Desert. Moving to the topic of excercise, I think that it should play a role depending on the stress it places. So think about it, you have damaged joints, inflammed, etc. do you want to put the rigourous stress of exercise on them and increase the inflammation. Think of a bruise and putting pressure on it. Finally, I can go back to popping my knuckles now since I have proof that it would cause me harm, just kidding.
Topic related to joint pain and weather,i found an article that gives an example of balloon to explain the cause of pain. In article, they mentioned that when the pressure outside decreases, the air balloon expands. If same thing happened to our arthritic joints area, it will cause the expansion and swelling which could aggravate never and lead to pain. But they also note that the process of swelling is based on theory, because even if the swelling is happening it is happening on small scale so it is hard to detect by any scientific means.
After being unsure whether to believe others when they say that popping knuckles do not lead to arthritis, it is a relief to actually find out that the popping sound is excess gas. As a consistent knuckle popper, under normal stress I have a bad habit of cracking my toes as it alleviates the tension I feel. I have always been worried that my excessive popping habit could lead to some kind of disadvantage to my joints and lead to pain as I get older. An article breaking down the mechanical event of knuckle popping mentions that excessive popping can lead to soft tissue damage around the joint. Also, there are signs that the hand strength in gripping can weaken and hand swelling can increase. Although arthritis will not develop, strength can weaken. How this would apply to my toe strength, I'm not sure.
Sorry for taking so long to answer the question about the low barometric pressure and joint pain. I'm an Aerospace Medical Technician for the Air Force and one of the things that we study is the effects atmospheric pressure on one’s body. Increase pressure increases the solubility of gases e.g. Nitrogen, however, when atmospheric pressure declines so does the solubility of gases (see Henry's Law), therefore Nitrogen gas begins to bubble out of solution in the synovial cavities of joints which puts pressure on the joints leading to pain. This is the reason why Dr. McQuillan said that low barometric pressure causes joint pain. To elaborate more on this topic, this phenomenon is experienced by those who climb altitude at a fast rate, e.g. pilots, and one of the main symptoms is joint pain, this phenomenon is known as "the bends."
I admire the beneficial details you present inside your articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my youngsters check up here normally. I am very positive they will understand a lot of new stuff here than anybody else.
I just had a question and was wondering if you could clarify. I don't know anything about how weather works, but I got confused about the part that says:
ReplyDelete'According to Dr. McQuillan, arthritis patients feel an uncomfortable pressure in their joints on days of high humidity and low barometric pressure, especially just before a storm. A drier climate means a minimum of pressure."
It says people with arthritis hurt when there's low barometric pressure,and then says that a drier climate has a minimum of pressure. I feel like that would mean that drier climates have really low pressures. So wouldn't that sort of contradict the statement that dry climates help OA? Or are they talking about two different kinds of pressures?
To answer Caitlin's question, to my understanding, dry weather has less pressure. You can actually feel it in the weather with or without arthritis. I am from Michigan and believe me there is a lot of humidity in the air there throughout the year. On very humid days you can feel the pressure in the air. I actually get chronic head aches and on the extreme humid days the head aches really kick in. To my knowledge I do not have arthritis, but I can understand the effect the humidity versus the dry heat has on arthritis patients. But like it was mentioned in Sergio's post, everyone is different and different people react differently...
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that I found this article really interesting. Some of the myths mentioned are things I had heard growing up. I knew most of them were myths... but it was interesting to see them addressed here. The most interesting one to me is always the one about cracking knuckles. I think it is a nasty habit and the sound actually gives me the chills. I just find it funny how a large percent of the population is so misinformed about it, though so many people do it. It always cracks me up when I can correct people and be like "actually, it doesn't cause arthritis." My grandpa is firm believer it causes arthritis and every summer when I'm visiting the conversation comes up, and no matter how much proof, how many articles, and statements I lay in front of him, he still doesn't believe it to be a myth.
To follow up on this. Dry weather vs. Humid weather, I think pressure and weightwise think of water. Water is heavy and when the air is saturated your supporting that weight, I like to remember the column of air that goes all the way to space that is shown in physics courses for atm and pressure discussions. So moving to a different point, I think that heat itself has a paliative effect. Think of all the marketed heating pads and HotIcy products to dull away the pain. Therefore, the heat in our climate might be more beneficial than just the minor pressure difference. Also you might just be happier in a climate that is sunny 360 days a year. I'll stop there because I think this is just biased towards my love for the Sonoran Desert. Moving to the topic of excercise, I think that it should play a role depending on the stress it places. So think about it, you have damaged joints, inflammed, etc. do you want to put the rigourous stress of exercise on them and increase the inflammation. Think of a bruise and putting pressure on it. Finally, I can go back to popping my knuckles now since I have proof that it would cause me harm, just kidding.
ReplyDeleteTopic related to joint pain and weather,i found an article that gives an example of balloon to explain the cause of pain.
ReplyDeleteIn article, they mentioned that when the pressure outside decreases, the air balloon expands. If same thing happened to our arthritic joints area, it will cause the expansion and swelling which could aggravate never and lead to pain. But they also note that the process of swelling is based on theory, because even if the swelling is happening it is happening on small scale so it is hard to detect by any scientific means.
http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/arthritis-weather
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAfter being unsure whether to believe others when they say that popping knuckles do not lead to arthritis, it is a relief to actually find out that the popping sound is excess gas. As a consistent knuckle popper, under normal stress I have a bad habit of cracking my toes as it alleviates the tension I feel. I have always been worried that my excessive popping habit could lead to some kind of disadvantage to my joints and lead to pain as I get older. An article breaking down the mechanical event of knuckle popping mentions that excessive popping can lead to soft tissue damage around the joint. Also, there are signs that the hand strength in gripping can weaken and hand swelling can increase. Although arthritis will not develop, strength can weaken. How this would apply to my toe strength, I'm not sure.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-makes-the-sound-when
Sorry for taking so long to answer the question about the low barometric pressure and joint pain. I'm an Aerospace Medical Technician for the Air Force and one of the things that we study is the effects atmospheric pressure on one’s body. Increase pressure increases the solubility of gases e.g. Nitrogen, however, when atmospheric pressure declines so does the solubility of gases (see Henry's Law), therefore Nitrogen gas begins to bubble out of solution in the synovial cavities of joints which puts pressure on the joints leading to pain. This is the reason why Dr. McQuillan said that low barometric pressure causes joint pain. To elaborate more on this topic, this phenomenon is experienced by those who climb altitude at a fast rate, e.g. pilots, and one of the main symptoms is joint pain, this phenomenon is known as "the bends."
ReplyDeleteI admire the beneficial details you present inside your articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my youngsters check up here normally. I am very positive they will understand a lot of new stuff here than anybody else.
ReplyDeleteBeauty Supplements