Don't listen to granny, the weather has NO impact on the state of your bad back.

Scientists at the University of Sydney found no link between temperature, rain, air pressure and humidity and back pain

Your granny will swear blind that the old tale is true - but it appears a cold night does not make a sore back worse, after all.
Scientists, in fact, could find no link between back pain and any kind of weather.
They tracked the levels of pain in nearly 1,000 back patients - and compared the results with temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind direction and rain.

 
The only slight hint of heightened pain was on gusty, windy days, but even then the difference was so low that the scientists ruled it out as scientifically insignificant.
One in three of us experience back pain at some point in our lives.
It is the most common musculoskeletal condition globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
The Australian research, published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research, compared the weather when patients first noticed their back pain with conditions one week and one month before the onset of the pain.
Dr Daniel Steffens, of the University of Sydney, Australia, said: ‘Many patients believe that weather impacts their pain symptoms.
‘However, there are few robust studies investigating weather and pain, specifically research that does not rely on patient recall of the weather.
‘Our findings refute previously held beliefs that certain common weather conditions increase risk of lower back pain.’

The academic admitted, however, that the temperate climate in Sydney - where all the patients lived - may partially explain the results.
‘Regions with more extreme weather conditions may present a different result but further research is needed,’ he said.
The popular belief about weather and its association with back pain seems to be stronger than the data would support.
And he said that other musculoskeletal conditions may be affected by weather.

The study examined 1,000 patients suffering back pain. Dr Daniel Steffens, of the University of Sydney, Australia, said: 'Many patients believe that weather impacts their pain symptoms. However, there are few robust studies investigating weather and pain, specifically research that does not rely on patient recall of the weather'

‘Further investigation of the influence of weather parameters on symptoms associated with specific diseases such as fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis are needed,’ Dr Steffens said.
Cindy Malenica, a 47-year-old Australian who has suffered from a bad back since a teenage surfing injury, refused to accept the results.
She claims her pain is so affected by weather that her friends call her the ‘human barometer’.
‘I got smashed by a wave and my back has been a problem ever since,’ she said.
‘Maybe the weather doesn’t affect everyone. But there must be a lot of people who are in the same boat as me, who do find that cold weather and a change of weather really affects their back.’

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