🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 55 (from laksa157)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa055.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise","crawl_time":1771638037,"first_indexed_time":0,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"edu,uw!newsroom,\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise s443","src_root_hash":"13461240186049465855","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise - UW Medicine - Newsroom","meta_descriptions":["People’s activity levels – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – are likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that motivates online searches, UW Medicine researcher says"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Skip to main content\nNews\nNews releases\nNoteworthy\nNoticias en español\nMedia coverage\nDigital Assets\nVideos\nPhotos\nContact\nSubscribe\nThinkStock\nSearches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.\nSEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain.\nBut it might not be the association you’d expect.\nAs temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off.  Rain actually dampened search volumes for both.\nThe \nfindings\n, published today in \nPLOS ONE\n, indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University.\n“We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard.\nThe researchers used \nGoogle Trends\n, a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain.\nFrom the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data.\nGoogle Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group.\nAmong the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors.\n“You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.”\nThe stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control:  Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches.\nBecause knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches.\n“We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.\nThe interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms.\nFor details about UW Medicine, please see our\nAbout page\n.\nCookie Policy\nWe use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our\nCookie Policy\n.","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise#single-body)\n\n[**UW Medicine - Newsroom***News and information for journalists*](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/ \"Go to start page\")\n\n[**UW Medicine - Newsroom***News and information for journalists*](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/ \"Go to start page\")\n\n- [News](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [News releases](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/)\n  - [Noteworthy](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/blog\/)\n  - [Noticias en español](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/noticias-en-espanol\/)\n  - [Media coverage](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/media-coverage\/)\n- [Digital Assets](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [Videos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/video-library\/)\n  - [Photos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/photo-library\/)\n- [Contact](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/contact-staff\/)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/subscribe-to-our-newsletter\/)\n\n![Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/logo-private.png)\n\n1. \/\n2. [News Releases](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/)\n\nAugust 18, 2017\n\n# Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise\n*People’s activity levels – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – are likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that motivates online searches, UW Medicine researcher says*\n\n**Media Contact:** Brian Donohue, 206.543.7856; [bdonohue@uw.edu](mailto:bdonohue@uw.edu)\n***\n\n![Media Name: aching\\_knee.jpg](https:\/\/uwnewsroom-prod-backend.parallelpublicworks.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/crop_thumbnail\/public\/aching_knee.jpg?itok=CxIKi2Qc)\n\n*ThinkStock* Searches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nSEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain.\n\nBut it might not be the association you’d expect.![charts reflecting Google searches for hip and knee pain](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/story__main_photo\/public\/Hip-Knee-pain-searches.jpg?itok=ZBESQXZw)\n\nAs temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off. Rain actually dampened search volumes for both.\n\nThe **[findings](http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0181266)**, published today in *PLOS ONE*, indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University.\n\n“We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard.\n\nThe researchers used [Google Trends](https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/), a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain.\n\n![charts with data reflecting searches for arthritis and stomach pain](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/Arthritis-Stomach-Pain-Searches.jpg?itok=m92HeCDI)From the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data.\n\nGoogle Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group.\n\nAmong the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors.\n\n![picture of Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1_2_column_horizontal\/public\/Scott%20Telfer%20in%20his%20office.jpg?itok)\n\n“You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.”\n\nThe stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control: Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches.\n\nBecause knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches.\n\n“We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.\n\nThe interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms.\n\nFor details about UW Medicine, please see our [About page](https:\/\/uwmedicine.org\/about).\n\n***\nTopics:[weather](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/search\/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=weather)[knee](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/search\/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=knee)[arthritis](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/search\/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=arthritis)\n\n## Latest News Releases\nFebruary 20, 2026\n\n### [Anxiety, gloom often accompany intellectual deficits](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/anxiety-gloom-often-accompany-intellectual-deficits\/)\n\nFebruary 18, 2026\n\n### [Ketamine rapidly reverses fentanyl withdrawal symptoms](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/ketamine-rapidly-reverses-fentanyl-withdrawal-symptoms\/)\n\nFebruary 17, 2026\n\n### [State's firearm-relinquishment effort sees gains](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/states-firearm-relinquishment-effort-sees-gains\/)\n\nFebruary 12, 2026\n\n### [Experts outline steps to curb rise in youth hypertension](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/experts-outline-steps-to-curb-rise-in-youth-hypertension\/)\n\n[More](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/)\n\n![UW Medicine](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/logo-uw-medicine-white.png)\n\n- [Other UW Medicine links](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/social-media-channels\/)\n- [Privacy & Terms](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/privacy-terms\/)\n- [Site Map](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/sitemap\/)\n\n- [Directions](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/directions\/)\n- [About UW Medicine](https:\/\/www.uwmedicine.org\/about)\n- [About Newsroom](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/about-newsroom\/)\n- [Media style guide](https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmmktg\/other\/media\/)\n\n© 2026 University of Washington \\| Seattle \\| All rights reserved\n\n#### Cookie Policy\nWe use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our [Cookie Policy](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/privacy-terms).\n\nContinue\n\n- [News](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [News releases](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/)\n  - [Noteworthy](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/blog\/)\n  - [Noticias en español](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/noticias-en-espanol\/)\n  - [Media coverage](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/media-coverage\/)\n- [Digital Assets](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [Videos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/video-library\/)\n  - [Photos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/photo-library\/)\n- [Contact](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/contact-staff\/)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/subscribe-to-our-newsletter\/)","attrs_readable_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise#single-body)\n\n- [News](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [News releases](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/)\n  - [Noteworthy](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/blog\/)\n  - [Noticias en español](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/noticias-en-espanol\/)\n  - [Media coverage](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/media-coverage\/)\n- [Digital Assets](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise\/)\n  - [Videos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/video-library\/)\n  - [Photos](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/photo-library\/)\n- [Contact](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/contact-staff\/)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/subscribe-to-our-newsletter\/)\n\n![Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/logo-private.png)\n\n![Media Name: aching\\_knee.jpg](https:\/\/uwnewsroom-prod-backend.parallelpublicworks.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/crop_thumbnail\/public\/aching_knee.jpg?itok=CxIKi2Qc)\n\n*ThinkStock* Searches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nSEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain.\n\nBut it might not be the association you’d expect.![charts reflecting Google searches for hip and knee pain](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/story__main_photo\/public\/Hip-Knee-pain-searches.jpg?itok=ZBESQXZw)\n\nAs temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off. Rain actually dampened search volumes for both.\n\nThe **[findings](http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0181266)**, published today in *PLOS ONE*, indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University.\n\n“We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard.\n\nThe researchers used [Google Trends](https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/), a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain.\n\n![charts with data reflecting searches for arthritis and stomach pain](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/Arthritis-Stomach-Pain-Searches.jpg?itok=m92HeCDI)From the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data.\n\nGoogle Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group.\n\nAmong the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors.\n\n![picture of Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine](http:\/\/hsnewsbeat.uw.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1_2_column_horizontal\/public\/Scott%20Telfer%20in%20his%20office.jpg?itok)\n\n“You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.”\n\nThe stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control: Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches.\n\nBecause knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches.\n\n“We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.\n\nThe interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms.\n\nFor details about UW Medicine, please see our [About page](https:\/\/uwmedicine.org\/about).\n\n#### Cookie Policy\nWe use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our [Cookie Policy](https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/privacy-terms).","meta_canonical":null}

3. Robots.txt Check

Query:

Response:

4. Spam/Ban Check

Query:

Response:

5. Seen Status Check

ℹ️ Skipped - page is already crawled

📄

INDEXABLE

✅

CRAWLED

1 month ago

🤖

ROBOTS ALLOWED

Page Info Filters

Filter	Status	Condition	Details
HTTP status	PASS	`download_http_code = 200`	HTTP 200
Age cutoff	PASS	`download_stamp > now() - 6 MONTH`	1.5 months ago
History drop	PASS	`isNull(history_drop_reason)`	No drop reason
Spam/ban	PASS	`fh_dont_index != 1 AND ml_spam_score = 0`	ml_spam_score=0
Canonical	PASS	`meta_canonical IS NULL OR = '' OR = src_unparsed`	Not set

Page Details

Property	Value
URL	https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise
Last Crawled	2026-02-21 01:40:37 (1 month ago)
First Indexed	not set
HTTP Status Code	200
Meta Title	Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise - UW Medicine - Newsroom
Meta Description	People’s activity levels – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – are likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that motivates online searches, UW Medicine researcher says
Meta Canonical	null
Boilerpipe Text	Skip to main content News News releases Noteworthy Noticias en español Media coverage Digital Assets Videos Photos Contact Subscribe ThinkStock Searches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. SEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain. But it might not be the association you’d expect. As temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off. Rain actually dampened search volumes for both. The findings , published today in PLOS ONE , indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University. “We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard. The researchers used Google Trends , a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain. From the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data. Google Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group. Among the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors. “You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.” The stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control: Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches. Because knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches. “We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms. For details about UW Medicine, please see our About page . Cookie Policy We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy .
Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise#single-body) [UW Medicine - NewsroomNews and information for journalists](https://newsroom.uw.edu/ "Go to start page") [UW Medicine - NewsroomNews and information for journalists](https://newsroom.uw.edu/ "Go to start page") - [News](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise/) - [News releases](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/) - [Noteworthy](https://newsroom.uw.edu/blog/) - [Noticias en español](https://newsroom.uw.edu/noticias-en-espanol/) - [Media coverage](https://newsroom.uw.edu/media-coverage/) - [Digital Assets](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise/) - [Videos](https://newsroom.uw.edu/video-library/) - [Photos](https://newsroom.uw.edu/photo-library/) - [Contact](https://newsroom.uw.edu/contact-staff/) - [Subscribe](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/) ![Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise](https://newsroom.uw.edu/logo-private.png) 1. / 2. [News Releases](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/) August 18, 2017 # Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise People’s activity levels – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – are likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that motivates online searches, UW Medicine researcher says Media Contact: Brian Donohue, 206.543.7856; [bdonohue@uw.edu](mailto:bdonohue@uw.edu) *** ![Media Name: aching\_knee.jpg](https://uwnewsroom-prod-backend.parallelpublicworks.com/sites/default/files/styles/crop_thumbnail/public/aching_knee.jpg?itok=CxIKi2Qc) ThinkStock Searches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. SEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain. But it might not be the association you’d expect.![charts reflecting Google searches for hip and knee pain](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story__main_photo/public/Hip-Knee-pain-searches.jpg?itok=ZBESQXZw) As temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off. Rain actually dampened search volumes for both. The [findings](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181266), published today in PLOS ONE, indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University. “We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard. The researchers used [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/), a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain. ![charts with data reflecting searches for arthritis and stomach pain](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/Arthritis-Stomach-Pain-Searches.jpg?itok=m92HeCDI)From the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data. Google Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group. Among the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors. ![picture of Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/styles/1_2_column_horizontal/public/Scott%20Telfer%20in%20his%20office.jpg?itok) “You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.” The stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control: Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches. Because knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches. “We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms. For details about UW Medicine, please see our [About page](https://uwmedicine.org/about). *** Topics:[weather](https://newsroom.uw.edu/search/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=weather)[knee](https://newsroom.uw.edu/search/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=knee)[arthritis](https://newsroom.uw.edu/search/?filter=field_tags&field_tags=arthritis) ## Latest News Releases February 20, 2026 ### [Anxiety, gloom often accompany intellectual deficits](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/anxiety-gloom-often-accompany-intellectual-deficits/) February 18, 2026 ### [Ketamine rapidly reverses fentanyl withdrawal symptoms](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/ketamine-rapidly-reverses-fentanyl-withdrawal-symptoms/) February 17, 2026 ### [State's firearm-relinquishment effort sees gains](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/states-firearm-relinquishment-effort-sees-gains/) February 12, 2026 ### [Experts outline steps to curb rise in youth hypertension](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/experts-outline-steps-to-curb-rise-in-youth-hypertension/) [More](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/) ![UW Medicine](https://newsroom.uw.edu/logo-uw-medicine-white.png) - [Other UW Medicine links](https://newsroom.uw.edu/social-media-channels/) - [Privacy & Terms](https://newsroom.uw.edu/privacy-terms/) - [Site Map](https://newsroom.uw.edu/sitemap/) - [Directions](https://newsroom.uw.edu/directions/) - [About UW Medicine](https://www.uwmedicine.org/about) - [About Newsroom](https://newsroom.uw.edu/about-newsroom/) - [Media style guide](https://depts.washington.edu/uwmmktg/other/media/) © 2026 University of Washington \\| Seattle \\| All rights reserved #### Cookie Policy We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. 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Readable Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise#single-body) - [News](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise/) - [News releases](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/) - [Noteworthy](https://newsroom.uw.edu/blog/) - [Noticias en español](https://newsroom.uw.edu/noticias-en-espanol/) - [Media coverage](https://newsroom.uw.edu/media-coverage/) - [Digital Assets](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/rain-increases-joint-pain-google-suggests-otherwise/) - [Videos](https://newsroom.uw.edu/video-library/) - [Photos](https://newsroom.uw.edu/photo-library/) - [Contact](https://newsroom.uw.edu/contact-staff/) - [Subscribe](https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/) ![Rain increases joint pain? Google suggests otherwise](https://newsroom.uw.edu/logo-private.png) ![Media Name: aching\_knee.jpg](https://uwnewsroom-prod-backend.parallelpublicworks.com/sites/default/files/styles/crop_thumbnail/public/aching_knee.jpg?itok=CxIKi2Qc) ThinkStock Searches about hip and knee pain increased with warmer temperatures, to a point, then declined above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. SEATTLE – Some people with achy joints and arthritis swear that weather influences their pain. New research, perhaps the deepest, data-based dive into this suggestion, finds that weather conditions in 45 U.S. cities are indeed associated with Google searches about joint pain. But it might not be the association you’d expect.![charts reflecting Google searches for hip and knee pain](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/styles/story__main_photo/public/Hip-Knee-pain-searches.jpg?itok=ZBESQXZw) As temperatures rose within the study’s focus span of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, searches about knee and hip pain rose steadily, too. Knee-pain searches peaked at 73 degrees and were less frequent at higher temperatures. Hip-pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and then tailed off. Rain actually dampened search volumes for both. The [findings](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181266), published today in PLOS ONE, indicate that people’s activity level – increasing as temperatures rise, to a point – is likelier than the weather itself to cause pain that spurs online searches, say investigators from UW Medicine in Seattle and Harvard University. “We were surprised by how consistent the results were throughout the range of temperatures in cities across the country,” said Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine. He collaborated with Nick Obradovich, a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and public policy at Harvard. The researchers used [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/), a resource that reflects global use of the company’s search engine. They created search strings of words and phrases for hip pain, knee pain and arthritis, as well as a control search related to stomach pain. ![charts with data reflecting searches for arthritis and stomach pain](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/Arthritis-Stomach-Pain-Searches.jpg?itok=m92HeCDI)From the 50 most populous U.S. cities, they sought daily summaries of local weather data from Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2015. The data included temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure – variables previously suggested as associated with increases in musculoskeletal pain. Five cities were dropped from the final results due to incomplete data. Google Trends expresses data in weekly, not daily, increments, which slightly limited the findings’ precision vis-à-vis time. Temperatures and searches below 23 degrees were aggregated into one group, as were temperatures and searches above 86 degrees. Those two groups of combined temperatures correspond with somewhat less scientific confidence, Telfer acknowledged, but the trend of fewer searches, relative to both 23 and 86 degrees, was evident in each group. Among the weather variables, only temperature and precipitation were found to have statistically significant associations, and only with searches for knee and hip pain. Searches about arthritis, which Telfer said was the study’s impetus, had no discernible correlation with weather factors. ![picture of Scott Telfer, a UW Medicine researcher in orthopedics and sports medicine](http://hsnewsbeat.uw.edu/sites/default/files/styles/1_2_column_horizontal/public/Scott%20Telfer%20in%20his%20office.jpg?itok) “You hear people with arthritis say they can tell when the weather is changing,” he said. “But with past studies there’s only been vague associations, nothing very concrete, and our findings align with those.” The stomach-pain searches functioned well as a control: Those volumes were greater at low and high temperature extremes and ebbed in mild temperatures, a very different pattern from the knee- and hip-pain searches. Because knee- and hip-pain searches increased as temperatures rose until it grew uncomfortably hot, and rainy days tended to slightly reduce search volumes for hip and knee pain, the researchers inferred that “changes in physical activity levels” were primarily responsible for those searches. “We haven’t found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That’s our hypothesis for what we’ll explore next,” said Telfer, an acting assistant professor in orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The interest in using internet data, he added, stems from the fact that web searches are increasingly people’s first response to experiencing adverse health symptoms. For details about UW Medicine, please see our [About page](https://uwmedicine.org/about). #### Cookie Policy We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our [Cookie Policy](https://newsroom.uw.edu/privacy-terms).
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