Alex Libby
Sat, July 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC
Tenn. (WKRN) — Have you ever noticed your knees aching or your joints hurting when the weather gets active? Here’s why the weather could be impacting your joint pain
Whether you have arthritis or just knee pain, you probably have noticed that your joints ache a little more when the weather gets stormy, especially in the winter
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From a meteorologist’s perspective, it makes sense that stormy weather could cause additional pain. This is because stormy weather is caused by low pressure. Low pressure causes rising air, and the rising air produces clouds, precipitation and storms. Low pressure also causes things to expand
If you have a balloon and take it up in an airplane or up a tall mountain, the balloon will expand in size. This is because the air pressure inside the balloon is staying the same while the air pressure outside the balloon is changing. The low pressure on the outside of the balloon will cause the air inside the balloon to expand
This happens when the pressure changes with the weather, just at a much smaller scale than if you went up in an airplane at 30,000 feet
In an article from Duke University’s School of Medicine, Dr. Christopher Murawski, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University, said, “While the science isn’t perfect, physiologically it makes some sense. Changes in pressure can cause muscles and ligaments to expand. Fluid shifts can happen. That can lead to swelling and pain.”
Just like a balloon expands when the pressure drops, the muscles and fluids in your body can expand and put extra pressure on sensitive areas like your knees and other joints
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This means that when someone claims they can feel when the weather is coming, they are probably right
If you have joint pain that gets worse with the weather, you have probably felt the most pain in late fall, winter and spring. This is because that is the time of year when Tennessee sees the largest storm systems with the lowest pressure and the most pressure changes
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