weather and broken bones

[Tat]

i broke my back last year and now have metal in my spine. although i am all better now it hurts when it's damp (especially cold and damp) weather. does anyone know why this is?

[Kit]

The metal itself won't be making any difference, since it quickly heats up to core body temperature and will stay at that temperature unless exposed to the outside (hopefully this isn't likely!) However, pain itself can be stirred up by cold and especially damp weather for several reasons, and it's likely that you would have got pain like this even without the metal. If you've damaged your back severely enough to break it, you will have jarred all the joints in your back. Joints are susceptible to changes in barometric pressure, which is why some people can predict the weather by the feeling in their bones. Also, surgical procedures are quite traumatic, and although you're asleep and don't feel it, your nerves are awake and remember it. Pain triggers muscle spasm, which is in itself painful, and muscle spasm is made worse by cold. If it's cold, damp and miserable, we all tend to huddle up - your posture goes to pot and this also increases pain. Plus in warm weather, not only does everyone stand more upright but sunshine and warmth also increase your own natural pain killers (endorphins.)
The British climate is particularly awkward. I worked with a Norwegian student who complained bitterly about the cold. I pointed out to him that he came from a country where the temp was regularly minus 30 degrees etc. Ah, he explained, but in England it's the wrong sort of cold!

[IndieSinger]

Tat that's so cool! Do you set off airport x-ray walk-through scanner-type thingies?! My sister has a metal valve in her heart (was the first female in the UK to have it put in!) and she does! She always tells the airport security that she has a metal valver in her body. Although admittedly, usually after Heathrow has been evacuated.

[smudge]

My nephew broke his leg when he was 21. He had a metel rod inserted & was asked to go back at some stage to have the rod removed. He has always been terrified of hospitals so didn't go back. He is now 40 yrs old, so the rod has been in his leg 19 yrs! I hope this doesn't cause him problems later on in life. He has always been very industrious & never complains of pain in damp weather. Of course the spine is more complicated, so do hope you get sorted out soon.

[Tat]

it is cool when it's not hurting! have a couple of wicked scars and you can even feel the metal through my skin! i don't set of metal detectors (boo!) as it's a new special type of metal, some kind of titanium. and i can't stick magnets to my back either (BOO!) . the docs said if i'm ok with them in, which i am, then they leave them in as the less times they crank you open and fiddle with your spine the better. and apart from it hurting a bit in nasty weather it's fine and doesn't restrict me too much - no more skiing (did it doing jumps) and no bungee jumping etc. was really luck not to end up like Christopher Reeve, so can't complain. much. unless it's a damp miserable day like today!