Winter chills nipping at your joints? Cold weather joint pain relief coming up!

Minor changes transform winter joint pain & fatigue into the season to mend & recharge

Every year as the weather cools, patients come into my office and ask why their joint pain or an old injury has suddenly resurfaced or has gotten worse.  

Cold weather can aggravate lots of pain conditions from arthritis to sickle cell pain and fibromyalgia.  Cold is both an element of the climate, and, if you’re susceptible, can affect your body, triggering symptoms.  We’re naturally more susceptible to cold as we age; that’s just the way we’re built. Winter's cold can trigger pain. Making minor lifestyle changes can help keep your joints happy and pain free and help you survive the dark days

Winter's cold & dark invite us to rest & recharge

As seasons change from one to the next, the earth’s energy changes too.  Mother Earth is the greatest source of energy in our world. But in our electrified, heated, air-conditioned, refrigerated culture we rarely make accommodations for these shifts.  

A Jump Back in Time

Just imagine if you didn’t have electricity!  In the winter, when the sun sets early bringing darkness quickly, you’d go to bed earlier.  Winter’s postponed sunrise means you'd sleep later and longer than in other seasons.  Not getting enough sleep on a regular basis makes you more prone to developing chronic pain, so take advantage of the cooler temps and darker nights to bank some extra sleep to help with any pain and anxiety you're dealing with now.

A hundred years ago, only half of US homes had electricity and most had no reliable form of refrigeration.  Because food couldn’t be shipped around the world or even the country without spoiling, people ate what was grown locally.  

In each geographical region, the foods that are easiest to grow and are native to that region also supply your body with what you need to thrive.  For instance, in cold climates, foods grow more slowly and are said to take on more heat from the earth making them easier to digest, and more warming to our bodies.  But in hot climates, foods grow more quickly, are cooler and have higher water content, helping you to withstand hot temperatures.  

Pineapple is cooling and moistening, which is great if you live somewhere that’s hot all the time and you tend to lose a lot of fluids.  But that same pineapple can be a problem in most of the continental US, in the cold of winter, because its cooling and moistening nature can aggravate joint pain.  But hard winter squashes, beets, beet greens, cabbage and turnips are neutral or warming and move energy to help make you less prone to joint pain and stiffness

Jumping back to a time without modern climate control you’d also be more likely to consume hot meals whenever you could.  Chinese medicine believes that hot food and drink are easier to digest.  And western science shows that warm to hot fluids are easier for our bodies to absorb, so they hydrate us better = better hydration with fewer trips to the toilet.

If you didn’t have a heated, well-insulated home or workplace, what would you do to keep warm?  You would move a lot more to create your own body heat.  Too often, when it gets cold outside we stop moving.  Winter’s lower energy should be matched with less intense exercise,  especially if you’re not a seasoned athlete. Focus on walking, stretching, tai ji, qi gong or gentle yoga are best for the coldest months of the year.  These are also some of the best exercises to provide cold weather joint pain relief.

The Takeaway for Cold weather joint pain relief

Paying attention to the seasonal changes and making minor modifications to our modern lifestyle can also take some of the bite out of the cold that winter brings and protect your joints.  

For some people making lifestyle changes (more sleep, seasonal foods, more gentle movement, and just keeping warm) is enough to keep their joints happy and pain-free.  If you need more support, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine both help to alleviate the stiffness and discomfort of joint pain whether you suffer in the winter or all year long.  

Want to know how you could feel better?  Call/text 919.813.0103 or email me christi@acupunctureindurham.com for a consultation to find out if acupuncture is your best, next step.

Yes, you CAN feel better!