Why Does My Knee Hurt When It Rains

Do you know how your knee feels when it rains? Most probably, not great. The knee joint is one of the most sensitive structures in the human body. It is also one of the most complicated and intricate joints in our body. Given its design and sensitivity to various external factors, it is not surprising that knee pain is one of the most common complaints among people all over the world. You must be wondering why so many people develop knee pain when it rains. Is there something about rain that makes our knees hurt? Well, yes… and no. The reasons for knee pain when it rains are multiple and often have nothing to do with rain directly, but instead have everything to do with other external factors such as humidity, temperature, or even weather conditions directly preceding rainfall.

Why Does My Knee Hurt When It Rains?

The reason your knee hurts when it rains is because the rainwater is full of lots of small dirt and debris particles. When you walk in the rain, these small particles get stuck in the pores of your skin. When you put weight on your knee, these tiny dirt particles get pushed into your pores, which causes inflammation, redness, and swelling. This can cause your knee to hurt.

What Happens When It Rains?

• The knee joint is one of the most sensitive joints in our body. The knee is designed to flex and extend, but it does not have a good range of motion. If you bend your knee and try to touch your toes, you are actually bending your hip. When the knee joint hits its limit, it will get irritated and pain will occur.
• The lubrication in the joints reduces due to raindrops hitting the leg skin. This causes friction between joints and cartilage as well as between cartilage and bone. As a result, we feel pain when it rains because friction increases due to reduced lubrication in the joint.
• Your muscles also become irritated when it rains because they are used to moving with ease under dry conditions, but are forced to move much more vigorously under wet conditions due to reduced lubrication in the joint.
• When rain hits your skin, water evaporates from your skin which further reduces its levels of protection against bacteria and other pathogens that may be present on your skin. You may also develop chills and fever due to the reduced levels of natural protection against bacteria and viruses on your skin.
• The reduced amount of moisture in the air reduces the amount of moisture in the air, which increases its temperature. As a result, we feel pain when it rains because our joints are already sensitive to heat.
• When you bend your knee, some of the blood that is normally pushed towards the heart is diverted towards other parts of your body to ensure that vital organs do not get damaged by dehydration or lack of oxygen. When it rains, this process becomes very difficult as blood must be diverted back to your knee joint again, making it harder for you to flex and extend your knee (and therefore causing pain).

How Does Rain Change The Environment Of Your Knee?

1. Raindrops make the environment of your knee hostile to bacteria and viruses as well as to other pathogens. As a result, you may develop chills or fever during rain.
2. The increased amount of water on your leg skin causes reflexive rubbing that spreads the skin moisturizer to different parts of your body, which causes pain when it rains.
3. You will feel pain when it rains because rain on your legs reduces the amount of lubrication in the knee joint and thus increases friction between the surfaces, causing inflammation and discomfort in the joint.
4. When you bend your knee, some of the blood that is normally pushed towards the heart is diverted towards other parts of your body due to reduced oxygen. As a result, you may feel pain when it rains because blood pressure rises in the area of your knee joint.
5. As with any other joint in your body, when there is no lubrication in the knee, friction between muscles and cartilage causes irritation that creates pain. As a result, you may feel pain when it rains because rubbing reduces lubrication to the joints making them more prone to injury and discomfort.
6. As rain increases the amount of water in your skin, you feel pain on top of the knee joint due to dehydration.

The Role Of Humidity In Knee Pain When It Rains

• The role of humidity in knee pain when it rains is to reduce the upper skin temperature by driving sweat from the skin. This reduces the amount of water that can evaporate, meaning that you perspire less and therefore risk dehydration.
• Drizzle and rainwater make your skin sensitive to heat and therefore increase your evaporation, which leads to more pain from heat.
• When it rains, your skin will normally produce more oil than normal as part of its usual mechanism for warding off pathogens and pathogens will be driven away because of less moisture in the air. This can lead to chaffing or abrasion (ie. “chafing” pain) on your leg if you are moving or are engaged in physical activity during rain or drizzle.
• You will feel pain when it rains because lubrication is reduced to the knee joint, making them more susceptible to friction and causing discomfort.
• As with any other joint in your body, when there is no lubrication in the knee, friction between muscles and cartilage causes irritation that creates pain. As a result, you will feel pain when it rains because rubbing reduces lubrication to the joints making them more prone to injury and discomfort. Other Factors that cause Pain on your Knees When it Rains

Temperature And Knee Pain When It Rains

1. When it rains, your legs will normally produce more body heat than normal due t o the reduced amount of water vapor in the air. This can lead to chaffing or abrasion (ie. “chafing” pain) on your leg if you are moving or are engaged in physical activity during rain or drizzle.
2. When you move, the increased moisture created by your movement can make you feel discomfort as friction occurs between your pants and skin and between skin and shoes, making them less flexible.
3. You will feel pain on top of the knee due to dehydration because as well as becoming dehydrated from going outside in rainy conditions with reduced water content in the air, you may also be more prone to chafing or abrasion (ie. “chafing” pain) if you are moving about because of reduced flexibility between joints and clothing
4. When it rains, moisture is driven from the skin forming a capillary bed which helps to protect the skin from dehydration. However, this capillary bed is dependent on the humidity in the air, moisture being driven out of your skin rather than absorbed by your body. This can cause discomfort because it makes it more difficult for water to make its way into the capillaries of your skin reducing its ability to retain water.
5. Although superficially, rain appears to be cooling because of evaporation and you will feel pain when it rains because lubrication is reduced to your knee joints making them more susceptible to friction and causing pain.

Conclusion

The knee is a sensitive joint that relies heavily on a balanced, relatively low-humidity environment for smooth functioning. When it rains, the sudden change in the environment around the knee caused by increased humidity and a drop in temperature can cause the knee joint to swell and become sensitive to pain. Wearing the right kind of clothes and footwear during rain or weather that is humid can help to some extent. If you are experiencing knee pain when it rains, it is important to identify the underlying cause and take steps to address it.