T-Rex suffered from arthritis and may have had weak knees, scientists say

T.REX suffered from bad back and knees, according to scientists who discovered signs of arthritis in killer dinosaurs.

Experts say theropods, two-legged beasts like Tyrannosaurus, were “devastated by bone disease.”

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It means ferocious predators built for strength and speed – such as T.rex, allosaurus and velociraptor – may have staggered in pain, just like affected humans.

Fossils showed signs of fused vertebrae and strange growths on the leg bones of three theropods unearthed in South America.

Study author Dr. Mattia Baiano, from the National University of Rio Negro in Argentina, thinks some giant dinosaurs developed arthritis or even gout.

Both conditions cause painful swelling in the joints and can be caused by injuries, old age or obesity.

Backs and hindlimbs were the dinosaurs' biggest problem areas, but they also suffered bone damage in their jaws and arms.

Dr. Baiano wrote in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution: “A large number of theropod specimens show signs of some kind of disease.

“Damage to the weight-bearing bones would hinder feeding activities or make them easy targets for predators.”

The dinosaurs in the study were 70 million to 90 million year old abelisaurids, which came just before the Tyrannosaurs.

Their later cousin T.rex became the king of the dinosaurs.

It could grow up to 12 meters in length and reach a speed of 40 km/h, despite weighing five to eight tons.