Heat not rain leads to lower joint pain

Far from increasing joint pain, rain decreases it – if only because you are more likely to stay indoors and do less, according to new research which finds knee and hip pain instead increases with the temperature

People reported more knee and hip pain when the weather was good, suggesting it is activity rather than cold or rain that affects sufferers most.

Arthritis, causing aching joints for ten million Britons, is said to be fuelled by wet weather. But people’s activity levels, which rise with the temperature, are likelier than the weather to trigger online searches for knee and hip pain, according to US scientists.

Google hits for arthritis over a period of five years had no discernible link with the elements, said Professor Scott Telfer of Washington University in St Louis.

He said: “You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing.

“But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.”

In fact searches for knee and hip pain increased in tandem with temperatures until it got uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce internet traffic for both conditions.

This inferred “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible.

Prof Telfer is a researcher in orthopaedics and sports medicine.