Work in the Cold: A Systematic Review of How the Chronic Exposure to Low Temperatures May Explain Painful Soft Tissue Disorders

Abstract

Movement disorders presenting with pain carry a significant economic and rehabilitative burden which is more predominantly in the working age population. Amongst the many causative factors suggested, cold exposure has been implicated as an important, albeit, unrecognized etiology in the development of painful movement related conditions. To this date no reviews have focused on the effects of cold exposure and its association with the appearance of musculoskeletal pain. The purpose of this systematic review aims to delineate and characterize this relationship.An electronic search was conducted using PubMed, Google Scholar, Academic Search Premier, and Oxford Journals. The following search terms were used to conduct this study: “Cold exposure and musculoskeletal injury” “Cold and injury risk” “Cold climate and workplace injury” “Cold exposure and pain” “Cold and arthritis”, “Cold physiology” “Effects of cold on musculoskeletal disorders” “ Effects of cold on pain perception” “Effects of cold exposure on injury risk” “Musculoskeletal manifestations and diseases due to environmental cold exposure.” A hand search of each reference list was performed to improve the quality of the literature review. Fourteen relevant articles were gathered from the literature review and used in this study.A consistent relationship between cold environment exposure and painful somatic manifestations was noted throughout the literature in the past 15 years. The most frequently reported manifestations included low back pain, finger pain, shoulder pain, neck pain as well as diagnoses of epicondylitis, tenosynovitis, and peri‐tendonitis. This relationship was stronger in subjects exposed to cold environments in their workplace when compared to controls. Chronic cold exposure in workplace environments appears to be a primary determinant in the etiopathogenesis of painful disorders affecting the body with important implications for productivity and work enjoyment.Support or Funding InformationMIsericordia UniversityCollege of Health Professions and EducationPhysical Therapy DepartmentThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.