Many of us experience joint pain when it rains outdoors. With Spring rain, you may be experiencing this pain more often. So here’s why it happens and what you can do to help it.
Why it Happens
According to Penn Medicine, when it rains, the weight of the air, or Barometric Pressure can decrease. This decrease in pressure can cause the fluid in the joints to thicken, making the tendons, muscles, bones, and scar tissues around your joints expand or contract. If you have stiff joints or arthritis, you may feel more sensitive in those areas, and possibly more pain.
What to do to Help
There are numerous steps you can take to decrease your pain and discomfort when it rains. First, make sure to dress warm with thick layers. Keeping your body warm can prevent the muscles from tightening around the joints as well as helping maintain body heat.
Second, ensure you stay dry by wearing waterproof materials or staying inside with dry air. The moisture in the air can exacerbate the pain so keeping dry should help.
Third, you may do light exercises to keep your body warm and moving. Movement such as walking or stretching will help blood flow through the body and keep it flexible.
Lastly, eating a well balanced diet of anti-inflammatory foods can help reduce the inflammation over time. According to Harvard Health, examples of anti-inflammatory foods include tomatoes, olive oil, green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and collards, nuts like almonds and walnuts, fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines, and fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges.
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Stoneking Physical Therapy and Wellness Center offers top rated physical therapy in Ewing New Jersey. All of our professional staff are certified members of the American Physical Therapy Association. The APTA is a national organization representing over 70,000 physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students. Our Ewing Physical Therapy office is located in central northern southern New Jersey and we are a local physical therapist to many.