Have you felt achier when it's cold out?
When you're shooting the breeze with people, and you happen to bring up the inevitable end of summer, they'll swear that cold weather is to blame for their aches, stiffness, and general laments about life. It really is the perfect scapegoat for all of our problems, isn't it? "Ah, I've been so unproductive today" or "God, I'm getting old -- my back is killing me!" But maybe there's some credence to these claims -- or at least some scientific observations that'll back you up when you say that "I'm not that old, I just hate the cold."
Now we all know about Seasonal Affective Disorder (which appropriately spells SAD in acronym form), but what about all that stiffness and all of those aches? Well, according to orthopedic physical therapist Vivian Eisenstadt, cold temperatures cause your muscles to lose heat, causing them to tighten, lose their range of motion, and potentially pinch nerves. They're also forced to work much harder to perform similar (if not the same) tasks, causing more damage to your muscle tissue. This can result in prolonged muscle soreness.
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As for your joints, Dr. Terence Starz, a rheumatologist at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, may have told it best when he relayed what one of his patients told him: “The frost is on the pumpkin, and the pain is back in my joints.” In 2015, the
Journal of Rheumatology published a study showing a significant relationship between temperature, humidity, and joint pain. Starz speculates that barometric pressure can cause expansion/contraction of tendons, muscles, and scar tissues, which can contribute to joint pain.
So how to combat the cold? Be sure to give yourself plenty of pre-workout warm-up before exercising. Also, be sure to stretch, don't overdo it, and see your chiropractor regularly to make sure you stay in alignment.
