I often hear elders say that they can predict the future, or at least the weather, through joint pain. When you look out the window in comfort, you know it’s going to be a sunny day; when you massage your aching shoulder with worry, you know a storm is coming. The idea that weather can cause physical pain is widespread and long-standing, dating back at least to Hippocrates in the 4th century BC. Although this idea is well known, can we really throw away the Doppler probe, replace the weatherman and replace it with the old man’s “painful joint warning board”? Probably not. While many people believe there is a link between weather and health, most medical research provides only vague support at best. So if there is no link, or if the link is relatively unimportant, why should we believe so strongly in it? There is an undeniable and obvious link between weather and health, such as heat stroke on hot days or frostbite on cold days, or allergies during pollen season. It also seems on the surface that a myriad of evidence can be presented to support the idea that weather can affect pain, such as arthritis, just ask a neighboring relative, and many physicians will encounter it in their practice. Most patients will complain of pain on rainy days, and based on the pain they can tell you that a storm is coming. Many patients are convinced of this association, including doctors and illiterate farmers. The fact is that weather can affect symptoms. But why do changes in the weather cause pain? No one can answer that. Patients and researchers who have confirmed the association believe the theory may be based on a decrease in atmospheric pressure. The decrease in air pressure prior to a rainstorm can cause swelling of the tissues around the joints and cause pain. Proponents of the theory place balloons inside air pressure chambers to simulate that if the pressure outside decreases, the air inside the balloon will expand, and if the same happens around a joint with arthritis, the expansion or swelling will irritate the nerves and cause pain. People’s thoughts are largely limited by ancient legends and beliefs that blame the weather for everything from heart attacks to nail spurs. Perhaps we can explain this psychologically by the fact that arthritic pain symptoms happened to occur before the storm, possibly convincing him that there is indeed a direct link between pain and weather. We would love to find the cause of the pain, but sometimes we can’t, so the weather becomes one of the first causes to be blamed, and all you can do is look up at the sky to verify your suspicions. If you have a strong implication deep down inside you are convinced that there is a connection between the weather and joint pain, then there is. When the barometric pressure drops and the wind blows hard, at that point if you are convinced that your joints should be aching, it will. Despite the controversy, the vast majority of people agree that weather has a very weak, if any, effect on chronic pain. Therefore, if you are facing weather-related pain, experts advise against blindly following what folk experience says about moving to a dry, warm place. I have had patients who moved to the south in the winter and felt fine for the first few months, but then their bodies adapted to the local climate and started hurting again like before. Since you can’t change the weather, do what you can to change it, which is to shift your focus. Even if the weather does have an effect on pain, it is very small, so why worry about it all the time when you can’t do anything about it?