Why Do My Muscles and Joints Feel Worse in the Cold Weather?

Sore muscles and aching joints — most of us do not like cold winter weather, especially those freezing mornings and even colder evenings. Winter can equate to more pain, especially if you don’t have strategies to prevent the effects of the cold weather.

Does muscle pain worsen in winter?

According to a study published in the Journal, “Pain,” in 1995, extreme weather changes eg. spring to winter or winter to spring, pain is one of your body’s natural ways of adapting to changes in your environment.

Apart from changes in the temperature this study also found that a change in the humidity was involved in the pain you experience.

This happens because your muscles expand in moist and humid weather conditions and they contract when there is less humidity ie when it’s dry. The contracting and lengthening of your muscles can affect your pain levels.

The right way to exercise in cold weather

The colder seasons of autumn and winter make can make us less motivated to keep up our exercise regimes. So naturally it feels even more difficult when your muscles feel even greater aches and pains than they usually do.

City Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic Adelaide has a few tips to help you keep up with your fitness without sore muscles.

Warm up

Do not neglect doing a warm up. In fact you should be doing an even longer warm up in the colder months than you may normally do. Skipping this vital step when exercising in winter will increase your pain. Take time to allow your muscles to slowly let go of the tension caused by the involuntary climate-driven contracting in your muscles

Wear thermal compression garments

Thermal compression garments do help your body keep warm which allows your muscles to perform optimally whilst you exercise. Whether you’re going for a run outside in the cold or if you are training indoors in the gym, wearing compression garments can help you avoid painful muscles and joints triggered by exercising in the cold.

Cool down

Workout completed – give your body enough time to gradually ease back down without causing you any discomfort. Do a combination of light to moderate whole body movements, walking and stretching to help your muscles relax

Have a warm shower or bath

If you have a bath, a soak in warm water will help relax your muscles. If not take a warm shower after you exercise to ease sore muscles and stiff joints.

Don’t stop exercising

When your muscles are sore, it can be a good idea to repeat the same or similar exercise routine the following day- this will promote a faster recovery for your muscles. Not exercising at all can lead to your muscles becoming weaker and this can lead to greater pain as well. Keep on moving.

Give your muscles a rest

After a big exercise workout, make sure to feed your body with healthy food to replace burnt up nutrients. Keep up your fluid intake as well as often the cold weather makes us want to drink less and we can become dehydrated. Ensure you also rest and sleep. 8 hours of sleep should give your body enough time to heal and rejuvenate.

Conclusion

Sore muscles from the cold weather can make you tired and a bit lazy. You will need to have strong willpower to make yourself keep moving and exercising in the cold of winter. The effort is however worth it as the benefits gained in less pain overall are worth the effort.

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