Fact or Myth: Does Rain Make Joint Pain Worse? The Honest Answer
Many people say rain makes their knees ache, but a 2024 pooled review of over 15,000 people found no clear link. The verdict is Myth for knees, hips and the lower back, with gout as the real exception.
Verdict at a glance
- Verdict: Myth for knee, hip and lower back pain; partly true for gout.
- What is true: in gout, hot and dry weather was linked with more flares, and some people do feel a pattern.
- What to do instead: keep a two-week pain diary and show it to a doctor, rather than trusting the sky.
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Why does rain feel like it makes joints hurt?
The feeling is real for the person who has it, even when the weather is not the cause. Aches can stand out more on grey, wet days, and a grey afternoon makes an easy target for blame. That makes the belief understandable, and it is why the Barsaat and Flood Season guides ask you to test the idea instead of assuming it.
What did the 2024 weather review actually find?
The review, published in the journal Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, is a meta-analysis. It pooled 11 studies covering 15,315 adults and 28,010 pain episodes. The researchers looked at temperature, humidity, air pressure and precipitation, which includes rain. For knee pain, hip pain, low back pain and rheumatoid arthritis, none of these showed a link to pain.
The lead author, Manuela Ferreira of the University of Sydney, put it simply: “come rain or shine, weather has no direct link with most of our aches and pains.” The review also noted that patient reports of weather pain are anecdotal, which means they come from personal experience rather than measured data.
One limit matters. The review looked at short-term, or transient, flares of pain. It does not show that weather causes arthritis to develop over the years.
Is gout the exception?
Yes, in part. Gout is where the review found a weather link. High temperatures combined with low humidity were associated with more pain, redness and joint swelling in people with gout. The reported odds ratio was 2.04, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.26 to 3.30. That means roughly double the odds, though the range is wide. If you have gout, your doctor decides how to manage it.
Insider trick: score one joint, not your mood
Pick the single joint that bothers you most and score only that joint each evening. A general mood score mixes too many things together, while one joint on a 0 to 10 scale gives your doctor a clean line to read. Write the date next to each score so the pattern stays honest.
How do you test the rain idea at home?
- Pick two weeks. Start on any day and keep going for 14 days, including the dry days.
- Score the pain each evening. Write a number from 0 (no pain) to 10 (the worst pain you have had all week) for the joint that bothers you most.
- Note the weather. Write rain yes or no, plus a rough humidity or temperature from your forecast.
- Add sleep and activity. Note hours slept and any long day of walking, stairs or squatting, counted in minutes.
- Look for a repeat. After 14 days, check whether the bad pain days line up with rain. If they do not, weather is not the driver, and the next step is a doctor visit. The walking and knee pain guide helps with the activity side.
When is it not the weather at all?
Some joint pain needs a doctor, not a diary. Knee osteoarthritis, for example, is a wear condition with its own causes and treatments, explained in the knee osteoarthritis guide. Winter stiffness has its own patterns, covered in knee pain in winter. Joint pain that arrives with fever after a mosquito bite is a different problem altogether, and the chikungunya joint pain guide covers it.
A joint is hot, red or swollen, or it will not bear your weight. Joint pain comes with a fever, or pain follows an injury or a fall. A joint looks misshapen, or pain wakes you at night and does not ease. Do not start, stop or change any medicine on your own, because the doctor decides. Any of these signs is a reason for a clinic visit, whatever the weather is doing.
Bottom line: Weather is a weak suspect for knee, hip and back pain, so test the pattern before you blame the sky. More myth checks like this one sit in our Fact or Myth series.
Rain and joint pain questions, answered
Does rain cause joint pain?
For knee, hip and low back pain, the evidence says no. A 2024 pooled review of 11 studies and over 15,000 adults found no clear link between rain, humidity, air pressure or temperature and those joints.
Does rain make knee pain worse?
The review found no clear link for knee pain. A two-week diary of your own pain and the weather is the fair way to test it.
Does rain affect joint pain in everyone?
The review did not show a clear effect on knee, hip, low back pain or rheumatoid arthritis. Gout is the exception, where hot and dry weather was linked with more flares.
Why do joints hurt when it rains?
The feeling can be real, but the review found no weather link for knee, hip or low back pain. Other causes, such as activity, poor sleep or a flare of an existing condition, are worth checking. A diary can help separate the two.
Does humidity cause joint pain?
The review found no clear link between humidity and knee, hip or low back pain. In gout, high heat combined with low humidity was linked with more pain, redness and swelling.
Does barometric pressure cause joint pain?
The review found no clear link between air pressure and knee, hip or low back pain. Air pressure was one of the four weather factors it tested.
Does rain cause arthritis?
This review does not show that. It looked at short-term pain episodes and flares, not at whether weather leads to arthritis developing over time.
Is gout affected by the weather?
Yes, in part. The review linked high temperature with low humidity to more pain, redness and swelling in people with gout.
Should a person change pain medicine when the weather changes?
No. Changes to pain medicine belong to a doctor, and the weather is not a reason to change them on your own.
When is joint pain a reason to see a doctor?
See a doctor for a hot, red or swollen joint, pain with a fever, pain after an injury, or pain that wakes you at night and does not ease.
Sources
- National Library of Medicine (PubMed): Come rain or shine: Is weather a risk factor for musculoskeletal pain? A systematic review with meta-analysis of case-crossover studies (Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2024)
- University of Sydney: No clear link between weather and common muscle and joint symptoms