Why does osteoarthritis pain wax and wane?

Dinsdale
Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:01:46 +0000
Factual Questions

I’m posting this in GQ, hoping to get responses other than anecdotal.

I have pretty severe arthritis in one hip. It varies from completely asymptomatic, to quite painful - causing a pronounced limp and feeling of instability. What confuses me is that I have been unable to identify any cause(s) for the exacerbations. Looking on-line, it is said that that weather and activity can cause exacerbations, but I have been unable to identify any such correlation. Maybe it could be something like barometric pressure, that I am not readily aware of, as opposed to temperature, precip, etc. Other sites list factors such as stress, but my personal situation has not really changed significantly over the past 4-5 years, and certainly does not change day-to-day correlating to the waxing and waning of symptoms.

It can be asymptomatic (or nearly so) for several days, and then one time that I stand from a chair, or on one particular step while walking the dog, it suddenly becomes painful. I bike and golf pretty regularly. I live in the Chicago area, so over the past 4-5 years I have tried to correlate my symptoms through a wide range of weather.

Given the mechanics of hip osteoarthritis, what exactly gets inflamed such that pain occurs/worsens? I’ve read articles such as this: Peripheral pain mechanisms in osteoarthritis - PMC

but am not sure how to apply it to my personal situation.

17 posts - 13 participants