My ankles ache slightly when it rains. Is this a disease?

Author: Tang Qin, Researcher of Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Zhang Bin, Chief Physician, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University

Many people start to experience ankle pain when it is cloudy or rainy. What is going on?

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1. Causes of ankle pain on rainy days

Symptoms of ankle pain occur on cloudy and rainy days. Generally speaking, the main reasons are as follows.

First, consider whether the pain is caused by foot arthritis. Ankle joints that are subjected to external force, pressure or cold stimulation for a long time are prone to aseptic inflammation. On rainy days, the temperature drops significantly, and keeping the ankles warm is often neglected. At this time, aseptic inflammation will be aggravated, and the patient's pain will be intensified.

Secondly, if the foot has been injured and the joint surface has been damaged, it can also cause traumatic joint inflammation. This disease can make the ankle pain worse due to the cold weather.

Finally, if the elderly have ankle pain when it rains, they may have rheumatism. Rheumatism is caused by a low immune system. The elderly have poor immunity. Once they encounter rainy days, the temperature changes drastically, and the temperature fluctuates, which can easily lead to a further decline in immunity and cause rheumatism, leading to lesions in the joints and tissues near the joints. The main clinical manifestation of rheumatism is joint pain.

2. Pay attention to ankle care in daily life

In order to avoid ankle pain, we must pay attention to the care of the ankles in our daily lives. This can be done from three aspects: keeping warm, wearing protective gear and exercise training.

In cold weather, try not to expose your ankles to avoid cold weather and prevent rheumatism. You can wear comfortable shoes that keep your ankles warm but do not restrict joint movement, or soak your feet in hot water every night before going to bed to promote blood circulation.

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During exercise, you should pay attention to protecting your ankles and avoid getting them injured. Therefore, you should try to avoid excessive weight on your ankles. Wearing protective gear before exercise can help stabilize the joints and protect your ankles.

At the same time, injured ankles are prone to poor joint stability, so this group of people can do some targeted training, such as single-leg standing balance training, which can effectively exercise the muscle strength around the ankle joint and improve joint stability.

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If you are unfortunate enough to suffer from ankle pain on rainy days, it is recommended that you consult a professional doctor for standardized treatment.

3. Treatment of ankle pain on rainy days

The main reasons for increased ankle pain on rainy days are arthritis, trauma and rheumatism.

If the ankle pain is caused by arthritis, the patient should avoid excessive exercise, pay attention to rest and keep warm. If it is mild, you can apply hot compresses. If it gets worse, you should seek medical treatment. When the pain symptoms are mild, using a hot towel or hot water bottle to apply hot compresses to the ankle can relieve the pain to a certain extent. Once the pain becomes unbearable, you should go to the hospital as soon as possible and take oral medications or acupuncture, massage, local blockade and other treatments under the guidance of a doctor to relieve the symptoms.

If a patient who has suffered an injury experiences ankle pain on a rainy day, the pain can be relieved by practicing exercises that enhance ligament stability, such as toe curling exercises, which involve sitting on a chair, straightening your legs, curling your toes upward, and maintaining the position for 10 seconds after reaching the limit, then slowly relaxing for 5 seconds, 15 times a day.

Finally, if the above reasons are excluded for ankle pain, then you should consider whether it is caused by rheumatism. Don't worry about rheumatic pain. You can get checked first and then treated. Mild cases only need medication, while severe cases can consider surgical treatment.

Rheumatism examination requires going to the hospital for a full set of rheumatism examinations, such as rheumatoid factor, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, antistreptococcal hemolysin, etc. If the ankle pain is confirmed to be caused by rheumatism, it should be treated as soon as possible. Patients can take anti-rheumatic drugs under the guidance of a doctor. These drugs can improve and maintain joint function and reduce joint pain.

If the condition is serious and medication is difficult to relieve, patients can also choose surgical treatment, such as joint correction surgery, artificial joint replacement, etc. Although surgery cannot fundamentally control the development of the disease, it can improve the joint function of patients with advanced arthritis and improve their quality of life.

If you have ankle pain on rainy days, you must pay attention to it, find out the cause of the pain, and cooperate with the doctor to actively treat it. In addition, you should pay attention to keeping your ankles warm in daily life, and don't blindly pursue "fashion" and expose your ankles outside to avoid ankle pain.