Rheumatologists may be on the verge of finding an answer to one of the most unanswerable questions in rheumatology – whether the weather affects pain in people with arthritis.

Launching the world’s first smartphone study, the Manchester based rheumatologists are asking the public to download their app and use it to record how they are feeling.

Dr Will Dixon, director of The University of Manchester’s Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology and honorary consultant rheumatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, came up with the idea.

“This question has been around for more than 2,000 years, but it’s only now with widespread modern technology that we have the ability to answer it,“ he said.

“And we’re not just inviting people to submit data – we want their ideas about the association between weather and pain too.”

To participate in the study you need to reside in the UK. However, if you’re interested in taking look at the app you can download it here.