Preliminary findings from a UK led smart phone study have indicated a link between weather conditions and chronic pain.

The ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Pain’ project involving 9,000 people specifically suggests a link between rain, a lack of sunshine, and pain.

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It found that as the number of sunny days increased the amount of time spent in severe pain decreased.

However, the amount of time spent in severe pain increased when the weather was wetter and there were fewer hours of sunshine.

Will Dixon, Professor of Digital Epidemiology at The University of Manchester’s School of Biological Sciences and scientific lead for the Cloudy project, said the early results were encouraging.

“Once the link is proven, people will have the confidence to plan their activities in accordance with the weather.

In addition, understanding how weather influences pain will allow medical researchers to explore new pain interventions and treatments.

“To work out the details of how weather influences pain, we need as many people as possible to participate in the study and track their symptoms on their smartphone”.

Meanwhile, a study published by Professor David Hunter and colleagues from the Institute of Bone and Joint Research in Sydney found no relationship between weather and knee pain caused by osteoarthritis.