During the cold winter months the weather can have many effects on your wellbeing, both mentally and physically. For many people one of these physical effects manifests itself as painful, aching joints. Chiropractic care can often provide help to reduce and prevent aching joints, and helping to alleviate joint pain throughout the cold season.
Why does cold weather affect your joints?
To date cold weather joint pain is an area that has not received much scientific research. However there seem to be two main reasons that your joints can begin to ache as the temperature drops. One theory is that as the body tries to conserve heat, blood flow is redirected towards the major organs in the centre of the body, such as the lungs and the heart. To encourage this, blood vessels in the extremities begin to constrict. As this happens, the decreased blood flow in these areas causes the joints to become stiffer and colder, leading to pain in the areas.
The other common theory is that as the barometric pressure in the air changes with the weather, the joints react by expanding, which leads to changes in circulation and sensitivity in the nerve fibres. You may have heard people say that they can feel the weather changing in their bones, and this is what they mean!
What effect can this have on your body, and how can I prevent it?
The most obvious physical effect is stiffness in the joints, particularly in the knees, hips and ankles. In addition to this, you may also feel low-level pain that drags on, almost like a continual dull ache which can be very annoying.
While we can’t control the weather, we can take steps to deal with the issues it causes. To deal with the pain, an obvious starting point is to keep yourself as warm as possible, whenever possible. In addition to this, you can prevent additional swelling with simple steps such as wearing well-fitting items, and it is important to also stay active.
Alternatively, with the help of expert chiropractic care, you can take preventative steps to help you identify underlying issues and look after your joints to stop cold weather pain before it starts.
How Can Chiropractic Care Help?
Chiropractic care can also help you in a number of ways, from keeping your spine properly aligned to allow your joints to take on a bit more heat and pressure, through to keeping you limber and more flexible to stave off the discomfort that can come from not being able to exercise due to your pain. Our highly qualified practitioners will help to thoroughly examine and diagnose what can be done to help you, and above all else, will provide you with effective treatment and management of the pain. While other methods leave you having to manage the pain daily, if you book an appointment with us now, we can help you to actually enjoy the cold weather months. Visit us at Bradford House Chiropractors today for a consultation or call 01962 861188 for more info.
