A few days before the weather changes (such as rain), the joints are painful and swollen (each pain is not in the same joint as last time). What's going on here?

Many patients think that it may be rheumatoid arthritis when the joint pain is aggravated on cloudy days, windy days and rainy days, and they are very nervous and afraid. Obviously, this understanding is incorrect. As we know, joint pain is a common clinical symptom when it rains on cloudy days, and many rheumatic diseases may occur, not just the unique phenomenon of rheumatoid arthritis. The reason why people have such a misunderstanding may be related to the fact that they can't distinguish between "rheumatism" and "rheumatoid arthritis". The definition of rheumatism is very broad, including dozens of common diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, lupus erythematosus and osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of them, and the recently proposed rheumatic cold joint pain also belongs to this category. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease related to hemolytic streptococcus infection. The acute stage of rheumatic fever is characterized by redness, swelling, fever and pain, which mainly affects the heart.

It has been proved that 90% rheumatism patients with arthritis symptoms are sensitive to climate change. Some patients can even accurately predict weather changes, often calling themselves "meteorological stations" or "weather forecasters" and so on. It is characterized by sudden changes in weather such as cloudy, windy and rainy days, or alternating seasons such as autumn and winter, winter and spring, and the joint pain or swelling of patients is obviously aggravated.

Why do joints hurt when it rains on cloudy days? According to modern research, rheumatism patients can't adapt to climate change because of the imperfect nerve function of joints and peripheral blood vessels, slow and insufficient vasodilation and contraction, slow rise and fall of skin temperature and paralysis of peripheral tiny blood vessels. When wet, the stimulation of increased humidity enhances the nerve sensitivity of joints; When it is cold, the blood flow is slow, the adrenaline content in the blood increases, and globulin condenses, which increases the viscosity of synovial fluid in the joint cavity and increases the resistance of joint activity; When it is cloudy, windy or rainy, the air pressure decreases, which can cause fluid accumulation in the joint tissue gap, resulting in a relative increase in intracellular pressure and intra-articular pressure. These factors lead to joint pain and swelling.

To sum up, joint pain in rainy days is a non-specific manifestation of joint inflammation that causes the body to be unable to adapt to climate change, and it is not unique to rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, it is suggested that patients with joint pain should be treated as soon as possible in rainy days in order to recover as soon as possible.