The Weissenberg rheogoniometer was used to measure viscosity, normal force and the number of molecular entanglements, calculated from a shear modulus obtained by prestationary experiments, in inflammatory and non-inflammatory synovial fluid effusions. The rheological properties show greater pathological change in the inflammatory synovial fluid samples than in the non-inflammatory. Variation in the hyaluronic acid concentration is only partly responsible for the pathological rheology. Initial experiments with a normalization method for the viscosity flow curves suggest the possibility of determining changes in polymerization or structure of the hyaluronic acid by rheological measurements.