Why Your Muscles and Joints Feel Sore When It’s Cold Out

As the temperature drops, it can feel increasingly challenging to work out. The inside of your house is warm and cozy, but going outside brings unwelcome discomfort like frigid fingers and toes. Pair that with muscle soreness and joint stiffness that we tend to notice in the colder months, and it’s a wonder people work out at all in the winter.

While research on the link between outdoor temperature and muscle soreness and joint stiffness has been inconsistent, you may still notice that cold-weather exercise makes you feel…not great. How you respond to the cold matters. Here’s what experts suggest.

Why Your Joints and Muscles Feel Sore in Cold Weather

Anecdotally, we tend to brace against the cold: rolling our shoulders forward and up when walking into the wind, tightening our…