Is Your Weight Causing Your Knee Pain?

Every step you take sends a multiple of your body weight through your knee joint. Carrying extra weight means your knees absorb more force, thousands of times a day, which can wear down cartilage faster and trigger inflammation that makes pain worse.
This is one of the most common, and most treatable, causes of knee pain we see at DR+.

• Extra load wears down cartilage faster than it can repair
• Fat tissue releases inflammatory chemicals that add to joint pain
• Uneven gait shifts more strain onto the inner knee
• Weaker supporting muscles transfer more force directly to the joint

These mechanisms don’t play out the same way for every patient. For some, pain is driven mainly by mechanical load and eases well with weight loss alone. For others, inflammation from fat tissue plays a larger role, and the knee needs to be treated more directly alongside the weight programme. This is why an assessment matters before starting treatment, rather than assuming weight loss by itself will resolve the pain.

If your knees ache after stairs, feel stiff in the morning, or have started limiting how active you can be, it’s worth getting assessed rather than living with it.

Learn how obesity affects your knees →