If you talk to people I'd say millions and millions of people probably believe that things like rainfall influence symptoms of joint pain and stiffness.
And shall I hang back, when Tellson’s knows this and says this—Tellson’s, whose bread I have eaten these sixty years—because I am a little stiff about the joints?
I could see nothing of the room except the shining of the fire in the window-glass, but I stiffened in all my joints with the consciousness that I was under close inspection.
On the other hand, if it was the summer and the patient was an avid hiker in New England presenting a rash, stiff joints and a fever, the doctor might instead suspect that the patient had Lyme disease.
He was heavy in his movements, and all the care he took in his diet and all his exercise did not prevent him from being fat; his bones were much too well covered and his joints had a middle-aged stiffness.